I happen to know for a fact that the original DISTRIBUTOR of Coors Beer was not a homophobe. He had the entire western United States as his territory and was the man who popularised it outside of Colorado. He was an outstanding business man and one hell of a nice person. He was also an extremely NONJUDGEMENTAL
GENTLEMAN. And I mean a
GENTLEMAN, in the old sense of the word.
I knew him.
I liked him.
He liked ME.
He also told me I was drinking too much
and at least switch to beer, suggesting Coors as a lighter beer. And MOSTLY, he told me to stop drinking because I couldn't handle it: he had seen me polish off an entire 5th of whiskey in under 2 1/2 hours. That man did NOT want me to drink at all, his suggestion that I get rid of hard liquor and drink beer was very well meant.
He KNEW I wasn't yet ready to stop drinking completely and was trying to lessen the damage I was doing to myself.
He was right: I was quite alcoholic as a 20 year old.
The purpose of Coors was to be the beer for people who did not want a beer belly, people who liked lighter brews. Also, for people who liked Colorado and the supposed purity of mountain water.
That distributor did very, very well financially--he was able to retire and sail all over the world by age 38.
Everyone in college drank Coors. When it first became popular, it was drunk by no one in NYC but college students and yuppies. I also remember when it arrived in NYC, where it was greeted with delight.
Gay men in the City drank Rolling Rock. Being bisexual and NOT gay, being consciously
not gay and
continually irritated
by gay men who would not accept what I WAS and kept repeating
Bisexual Is A Pitstop On The Highway To Gay,
I would not have been caught DEAD with a Rolling Rock Beer.
Why?
Because
I was not a gay man, and far too many gay men shit
all
OVERme and people just like me, demanding acceptance and respect for
themselves!!! while continually mocking Bisexuals.
Like ME.
OK, granted, a LOT of people claimed they were Bi because they were too afraid to say they were gay: that was not
OUR problem.
A lot of gay men said they were bisexual because they were on their way out of the closet.
Coldly stated, that was
THEIR problem.
It was not
OUR PROBLEM until those guys
MADE it our problem: the treatment meted out to REAL bi men by ordinary gay men who would not give us the same respect they demanded for themselves most certainly
was our problem and a big one. Every single bisexual--really bisexual --male i knew was hurt by it.
Unfortunately we were and are the smallest of the sexual minorities, so nobody gave a damned. They still largely don't.
If gay men had drunk Coors where I lived when I was 20 years old I wouldn't have touched it with my ten foot pole! Ever. I have never before heard that gay men 'made' Coors what it is, or that it is a "gay beer", but, when I was younger, if it HAD been a gay beer I'd never have drunk it.
And drink it I did, I even went on the Coors Brewery Tour and got completely ossified on experimental beers.
----------------------------------
To address the topic of how alcohol ravages gay men---and I am not 20 any longer>>>I am 50 and at peace with it all today even if the above doesn't much sound like it.....
Gay men
AS A GROUP drink too fucking much.
Gay men as a group take too many damned drugs. Poppers aren't even considered drugs any longer by many gay men, their use is ubiquitous in the Gay lifestyle, they are everywhere and yes they are indeed a drug...
Cocaine...
Wierd drug combinations.
You name it.
AND Artiste, IMHO you are very very much correct if we are speaking of gay men
AS A GROUP, and not as individuals! I want to emphasize here that I'm talking about gay men in 2007, as a group. And I am saying all this as an 'outsider'; just call me your friendly neighborhoo [Spiderman] Bisexual Sociological Observer
so to speak [rofl!]
Many many gay men do drink 'normally'.
Many, many do not drink at all, or infrequently.
Many many are in Alcoholics Anonymous.
What I have observed is this:
gay men sometimes find it very hard to sober up in "Gay Meetings" within AA because the entire 'Gay Lifestyle' pushes drinking and drug abuse. There is an above average relapse rate in --and this applies only to what I can vouch for and have myself seen in New York City and Denver-- the larger Gay AA groups. The recovery rate rises in the smaller Gay AA groups, where there is less bullshit [in the main] and one can often find a more serious attitude.
On the other hand many do sober up at the larger meetings but stop attending because they are like little 'ghettos' where one only meets gay people; there is no outside or larger influence, the sense of the AA community as a whole is broken... There are a lot I know who say they felt cut off and changed groups, in other words left the first big gay group which they sobered up in and found another smaller gay group-- or 'non-gay' group.
I know some who make a gay meeting once in a while, and attend 'non-special interest' [not gay] regular meetings most of the time.
A lot of recovering gay men whom I know have followed that path.
At the same time, there are those who go to nothing but Gay AA Meetings and do well at them. It is
very individual!!! Many others go to ordinary and basically mixed AA groups because they find it easier to sober up.
IMO a mixed group is by far the best. You get it all.
Substance Abuse is a central feature of the 'gay lifestyle'. It is one reason a lot of men 'opt out' of that lifestyle after a time, because they understand and realise it is self-destructive.
People can yell at me all they want but IMHO the so-called gay lifestyle is inherently destructive to gay men as human beings.
Period
Thank you for reading my rant: please throw all stones and arrows in the direction of Downtown Denver, Colorado, USA lol
*
Reason For Edit: I got way aggravated. And added a few things. And found typos. And have probably made more!
