HBO's 'Last Call' tracks '90s killer targetg gay men

Contents:

• MALAYSIA FTIVAL NCELLED AFTER MATTY HEALY SLAMS ANTI-GAY LAWS AND KISS BANDMATE
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN FIRST MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• A GAY TEEN DISVERS HIMSELF AT SUMMER MP THIS FLAMER FIRST LOOK
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY
• LAKERS AMONG TEAMS LKED TO RUDY GAY

MALAYSIA FTIVAL NCELLED AFTER MATTY HEALY SLAMS ANTI-GAY LAWS AND KISS BANDMATE

In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out.

In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY

Gay Water, however, is out and proud.

The nned cktail is named after a lloquialism given to the popular mixed drk (vodka and soda) orred at bars by the gay muny. “Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh.

He thought of creatg Gay Water about a year ago while on a vatn wh his iend that had got a job wh the beverage dtry.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN FIRST MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail. Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water. “Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”.

For now, Gay Water is sold largely onle (wh a few retailers) and four sugar-ee flavors — watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu — at lnch. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN. “There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said.

Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space. A mic ftival Malaysia has been cut short by the ernment after the lead sger of The 1975 slammed the untry's anti-gay laws and kissed a male bandmate on stage. Brish sger Matty Healey swore remarks roundg on the ernment's stance agast homosexualy, before kissg bass player Ross MacDonald at the Good Vib Ftival.

A GAY TEEN DISVERS HIMSELF AT SUMMER MP THIS FLAMER FIRST LOOK

Footage was posted on social media and sparked a backlash the untry, where homosexualy is punishable by up to 20 years prison and ng. Healy said: “Unfortunately you don’t get a set of loads of upliftg songs bee I’m f****** fur and that’s not fair on you, bee you’re not reprentative of your ernment bee you are young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progrsive and ol.

”It wasn't the first time that Healy ed the stage to fend lbian and gay rights. In 2019, he kissed a male fan durg a ncert the Uned Arab Emirat, which also outlaws homosexual acts, acrdg to media same year, Healy won ally of the year at the 2019 Diva Awards for supportg the LGBT+ muny.

Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St Louis Rams selected him 2021, Carl Nassib, then wh the Las Vegas Rairs, beme the first active NFL player to e out publicly. All imag: Godw BooksAdolcence n be a ighteng perd for young gay men, who are sudnly faced wh new sexual feelgs that n often nflict wh social prsur placed on them by fay, iends, and the media.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY

Kev Maxen, an assistant ach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, ma sports history after publicly g out as gay. Maxen’s disclosure is a historic one, makg him the first openly gay ach of a U.

Maxen’s announcement two years after NFL star Carl Nassib beme the league’s first active openly gay player. “I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay, ” the former Las Vegas Rairs player, 30, revealed a June 2021 Instagram vio. The four-part te crime seri, now streamg, foc on four victims, gay men the 1990s, who were murred, dismembered, their remas found garbage bags along a New Jersey highway.

LAKERS AMONG TEAMS LKED TO RUDY GAY

Adapted om an Edgar-wng 2021 book also lled “Last Call” by director Anthony Caronna and producer Howard Gertler, what ultimately emerg is an unsttg portra of the vlence done not jt to a gay quartet but to gays, lbians, trans people general. That mak the climatic urt trial a tense tt se of basic gay civil rights. “What we wanted to do was set the table so people unrstood that 2005, ” Caronna said, “gay marriage wasn’t a thg.

For gays, 2005 was still a time where somebody uld get off for somethg heo. There was still a lot of homema homophobia wh the jtice system. “Last Call” begs 1970s Florida where former bety queen Ana Bryant ws natnal attentn and enthiastic support by attackg homosexuals as unf parents.