Gays Flock to Fla.
Panhandle for Holiday
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, May 26, 2007
PENSACOLA BEACH,
Fla.
-- Souvenir shops lining this sugary white Panhandle beach display Confederate
flag beach towels, window decals and T-shirts. Hooters and other bars fly
POW-MIA, Marine and Navy flags and cater to the sailors and Marines from the
nearby base.
Vacationing Southern families
usually fill the hotels and condominiums in this slice of paradise long
nicknamed ''The Redneck
Riviera.'' But every Memorial Day they
mostly stay away as this town becomes more like trendy
Miami Beach
-- 700 miles and a world away.
Starting in the mid-1980s, gay men
from New Orleans and other nearby cities began gathering here for a three-day
party that has grown into one of the South's
largest gay gatherings, attracting more than 60,000 people in 2004
before hurricanes Ivan and Dennis destroyed many beach roads and buildings.
Following two
years of rebuilding, organizers anticipate 50,000 this weekend.
While no one can recall any violent
incidents targeting the gay tourists, the raucous weekend of concerts, Cirque de
Soleil-like dance troupes and female impersonator RuPaul hasn't always sat well
with everyone -- although that may be subsiding.
''We used to have groups that
picketed but for the most part even that has gone away -- there are just some
religious groups that have a problem with it now,'' said Jim Goldman, an
organizer of the charity Art Against AIDS, which receives a portion of the
proceeds of the events.
Gordon Godfrey, pastor of the
2,000-member Marcus
Pointe
Baptist
Church, said many in his congregation are offended
by the activities. Instead of flying rainbow flags to symbolize gay pride,
people should fly American flags on Memorial Day, Godfrey said.
''I think what goes on out there on
the beach on Memorial Day is surprising to a lot of people who move into our
community,'' he said. ''I personally feel like it's just
inappropriate behavior from a biblical
standpoint.''
Jessie Jablonski, an Air Force
retiree, and his wife, Trish, said they avoid the beach on Memorial Day weekend.
''It's just not my kind of crowd,''
Jessie Jablonski said laughing, as the longtime
Pensacola
couple fished for flounder and snapper off a bridge one recent afternoon.
''Everybody knows that's gay pride
weekend, and we don't even come out this way because of the crowds,'' said Trish
Jablonski. She added her surprise that the event had flourished in the
conservative area. ''I'd say this is
pretty homophobic place.''
University of West
Florida
sociologist Dallas Blanchard said the answer to the muted opposition is easy:
the gay visitors spend.
''You have the fundamentalist
churches who always rant and rave against the (Memorial Day) event and there are
always letters to editor complaining about it,
but it has been tolerated because
the money is green,'' said
Blanchard, who has long studied Panhandle social trends.
Kirk Newkirk, who rents kayaks,
waverunners and pontoon boats on the beach, thinks the attitude among many
locals about the weekend has evolved.
''Everybody has gotten much more
liberal around here. Now the attitude is lot more 'Just take it as it
goes,''' he said. ''There has always been a gay community on
Pensacola
Beach even back when I was
a lifeguard out here in the 1960s. Somehow it just progressed into this
huge party with thousands of people.''
The Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of
Commerce doesn't know how the event compares with other annual events in terms
of dollars spent but it is major, said Ed Schroeder, the chamber's vice
president of tourism and development.
Other tourists are told about the event if they make reservations, so no one
arrives unaware.
''We have rarely gotten
complaints,'' he said.
Johnny Chisholm, who began
organizing the beach parties and a huge celebration at the downtown Pensacola
Civic Center 14 years ago, also organizes gay weekend events at Orlando's Walt
Disney World and Disneyland Resort Paris.
''For the most part the public here
has been very receptive to it. There
are not many events that you sell
out all the hotels,'' Chisholm said.
(Emphasis Added)
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