Gay Water, a new nned cktail, wants to be the anti-Bud Light | CNN Bs

Contents:

• HISTORY AND HYPOCRISY: WHAT THE "GAY" EAR PIERCG MEANS 2022
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY
• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
• CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTS SOCIAL STUDI TEXTBOOKS THAT CLU GAY RIGHTS AFTER WARNGS OM ERNOR
• US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT

HISTORY AND HYPOCRISY: WHAT THE "GAY" EAR PIERCG MEANS 2022

Nobody is googlg “which ear is the gay ear” eher—well, nobody who healthily engag wh society. Pre-Y2K (and beyond), 's been socially unrstood that wearg one earrg on the right ear means someone is gay; the left, straight. Dpe recent data and celebri supportg otherwise, the magogic proverb "Left is right and right is wrong" has been a whisper placed upon gay and straight men (and their piercers) for s.

But the whole "gay ear" thg has always been ironic, nsirg s ever-changg posn throughout history.

It's te, though, that "droppg a hairp" - the precursor to signalg (a way to drop a subtle ht to someone that you, too, were gay) - was both harmful and helpful.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY

And the "Café Dis" episo of "The Office, " Kelly n be seen piercg Andy a cutaway as he asks: "Are you sure that's not the gay ear? Coleman and Theo Sandfort discs the fact that straight Rsian men would often mark their first sexual act wh women by piercg their right ear as a way to ward off unwanted advanc om gay men.

"In llege, Phil Oakey (The Human League) had both of his ears pierced, which really threw people for a loop bee he was straight spe givg off the gayt vibe the world.

He rocks the "gay earrg" on the regular - and on purpose, a signature style cue he refers to as his "gag du jour" on Instagram - rarely optg for a subtle ht of gold but a more-is-more approach.

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

Today's isms, like no-makp makp and tantourg, don't force to relive the bt of the worst; rather, they remd that the journey of fg a "personal" style is as fe as dog the dish: you're never really Salem, the "gay ear piercg" is a smaller yet ccial part of a bigger picture. Nor was about a limp wrist or gaydar.

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. 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.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTS SOCIAL STUDI TEXTBOOKS THAT CLU GAY RIGHTS AFTER WARNGS OM ERNOR

“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.

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.

US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT

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.