Gays flock to Fla. Panhandle for holiday

The Wayniac · 05-27-2007, 10:22 AM

Ok, now i know why there was nothing going on over there this weekend.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070527/...o58th8kjgE1vAI

Gays flock to Fla. Panhandle for holiday
By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 24 minutes ago

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 entertainment including 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 a 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.
_________________

The Wayniac · 05-27-2007, 01:51 PM

And in a related story............

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070527/...2jxefIfdwE1vAI

Now why can't Americans do this ?

Russian police detain gays as punches fly
By Guy Faulconbridge
2 hours, 2 minutes ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian nationalists shouting "death to homosexuals" punched and kicked demonstrators calling for the right to hold a Gay Pride parade in central Moscow on Sunday while riot police detained dozens of gay protesters.

Two European parliamentarians were among those held as they tried to present a petition asking Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has called gay marches satanic acts, to lift a ban on the parade.

Nationalists and extreme Russian Orthodox believers held icons and denounced homosexuality as "evil" while a group of thick-set young men turned up with surgeon's masks, which they said would protect them from the "gay disease."

"We are defending our rights," said a young gay man named Alexey, with blood pouring from his nose after he was beaten up by a man screaming "homosexuals are perverts" opposite the mayor's office. His attacker was detained.

"This is terrible but I am not scared. This is a pretty scary place, a pretty scary country if you are gay. But we won't give up until they allow us our rights," he said.

Hundreds of riot police lined Tverskaya street in central Moscow and plain-clothes police mingled with a large number of foreign and Russian journalists.

Parade organiser Nikolai Alexeyev said by telephone from a police station that about 30 gay activists had been detained. A police spokesman said 31 people were detained.

"We are sitting in the police station right now. We were detained outside the mayor's office when we tried to present the petition," said Alexeyev. "They are keeping us in the cells overnight and we will be in court tomorrow."

Marco Cappato, an Italian member of the EU parliament, was also detained at the protest but later released.

GAY TOLERANCE

Russia decriminalised homosexuality in 1993 but tolerance is not widespread. When asked about gay parades, President Vladimir Putin quipped in February that his approach to sexual minorities is guided by Russia demographic problems.

"We believe these perverts should not be allowed to march on the streets of Moscow, the third Rome, a holy city for all Russians," said Igor Miroshnichenko, who said he was an Orthodox believer who had come to support the riot police.

"It (homosexuality) is satanic," he said. One man holding a crucifix threatened to beat up any gay person he saw.

Richard Fairbrass, a gay singer with the British pop group Right Said Fred, was punched in the face and kicked by anti-gay activists while speaking to Reuters in an interview.

"We understand this is a gay event and so we came down here today," Fairbrass said before being hit. Blood dripped from his face after the attack.

British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell was knocked to the ground and kicked twice. When he got up he was punched in the face again and taken away by two riot policemen.

"The attitude of President Putin and Mayor Luzhkov is that they will grudgingly tolerate gay people providing they remain in the closet and underground," Tatchell said by telephone.

"There is no serious action taken against queer bashing."

Volker Beck, a German Green Party politician, was hit in the face with eggs before being detained by riot police. "We didn't do anything," he told Reuters as he was led away.

Germany's Green Party Chairwoman Claudia Roth called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to raise the issue of rights with Putin at next month's Group of Eight summit.

"It has been shown once again today that human rights are systematically abused in Putin's Russia," she said in a statement. Beck was later released.

"It is very conspicuous when people are arrested in front of the mayor's office when they were doing nothing other than trying to present a peaceful petition," said Scott Long, a rights activist with Human Rights Watch who observed the events.

"There was no real attempt to separate the two sides and that led to people being beaten up," he said. "I would call on the Russian authorities to protect freedom of assembly, protect freedom of expression and protect demonstrators."
_________________

Trey · 05-27-2007, 02:05 PM

I got no problem against gay people, but I do have a problem with a lot of these gay gatherings and such. Some of the stuff they do when they get together like this for these gay pride celebrations is disgusting. Dudes giving each other head on the sidewalk and shit, they can take that somewhere else. That shit don't belong out in public.

PITBOSS · 05-27-2007, 08:43 PM

I saw a story on the news a while back that a bunch of Russians who had immigrated to Frisco hopped on a boat back to the USSR

just couldn't handle our liberal society.

These people went through Communism, I'm sure they're not going to let much slide anymore.

This stuff in Pensacola, I would have a problem with the public stuff. I could just imagine having to explain gay behavior to a kid.

wilthrill · 05-29-2007, 11:12 AM

I lived in Pensacola in the early 90's and I have NEVER seen a beach so trashed as it was after "gay weekend". More used condoms, wine cooler bottles and pink shit than you ever saw all over the beach!! Hell, even the rednecks don't trash the beachs. I'd say, "if you want to meet that is fine regardless of your sexual orientation but WILL clean up after yourself and we WILL enforce ALL laws and the first guy getting a blowjob in public goes straight to jail."

As for the "intolerant" locals, most of us just drove down to Fort Pickens or Navarre. We didn't "beat up" gay people or anything like that.

As for the russians, isn't it interesting how the drive-by media ALWAYS refers to Americans as being intolerant and homophobic all the while IGNORING the REAL intolerance and homophobia that is RAMPANT around the world? In fact, the US is FAR MORE TOLERANT of homosexuality than most any other nation on earth!!!

05-27-2007, 10:22 AM	#1 (permalink)
The Wayniac Moderator Band Whore Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Mobile Posts: 842 Rep Power: 42	Gays flock to Fla. Panhandle for holiday Ok, now i know why there was nothing going on over there this weekend. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070527/...o58th8kjgE1vAI Gays flock to Fla. Panhandle for holiday By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 24 minutes ago 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 entertainment including 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 a 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. _________________

05-27-2007, 02:05 PM	#3 (permalink)
Trey Screamo for Emo Join Date: May 2007 Location: Biloxi Age: 29 Posts: 167 Rep Power: 14	I got no problem against gay people, but I do have a problem with a lot of these gay gatherings and such. Some of the stuff they do when they get together like this for these gay pride celebrations is disgusting. Dudes giving each other head on the sidewalk and shit, they can take that somewhere else. That shit don't belong out in public. __________________ Ninjas kill pirates. The end.

05-27-2007, 01:51 PM	#2 (permalink)
The Wayniac Moderator Band Whore Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Mobile Posts: 842 Rep Power: 42	And in a related story............ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070527/...2jxefIfdwE1vAI Now why can't Americans do this ? Russian police detain gays as punches fly By Guy Faulconbridge 2 hours, 2 minutes ago MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian nationalists shouting "death to homosexuals" punched and kicked demonstrators calling for the right to hold a Gay Pride parade in central Moscow on Sunday while riot police detained dozens of gay protesters. Two European parliamentarians were among those held as they tried to present a petition asking Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has called gay marches satanic acts, to lift a ban on the parade. Nationalists and extreme Russian Orthodox believers held icons and denounced homosexuality as "evil" while a group of thick-set young men turned up with surgeon's masks, which they said would protect them from the "gay disease." "We are defending our rights," said a young gay man named Alexey, with blood pouring from his nose after he was beaten up by a man screaming "homosexuals are perverts" opposite the mayor's office. His attacker was detained. "This is terrible but I am not scared. This is a pretty scary place, a pretty scary country if you are gay. But we won't give up until they allow us our rights," he said. Hundreds of riot police lined Tverskaya street in central Moscow and plain-clothes police mingled with a large number of foreign and Russian journalists. Parade organiser Nikolai Alexeyev said by telephone from a police station that about 30 gay activists had been detained. A police spokesman said 31 people were detained. "We are sitting in the police station right now. We were detained outside the mayor's office when we tried to present the petition," said Alexeyev. "They are keeping us in the cells overnight and we will be in court tomorrow." Marco Cappato, an Italian member of the EU parliament, was also detained at the protest but later released. GAY TOLERANCE Russia decriminalised homosexuality in 1993 but tolerance is not widespread. When asked about gay parades, President Vladimir Putin quipped in February that his approach to sexual minorities is guided by Russia demographic problems. "We believe these perverts should not be allowed to march on the streets of Moscow, the third Rome, a holy city for all Russians," said Igor Miroshnichenko, who said he was an Orthodox believer who had come to support the riot police. "It (homosexuality) is satanic," he said. One man holding a crucifix threatened to beat up any gay person he saw. Richard Fairbrass, a gay singer with the British pop group Right Said Fred, was punched in the face and kicked by anti-gay activists while speaking to Reuters in an interview. "We understand this is a gay event and so we came down here today," Fairbrass said before being hit. Blood dripped from his face after the attack. British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell was knocked to the ground and kicked twice. When he got up he was punched in the face again and taken away by two riot policemen. "The attitude of President Putin and Mayor Luzhkov is that they will grudgingly tolerate gay people providing they remain in the closet and underground," Tatchell said by telephone. "There is no serious action taken against queer bashing." Volker Beck, a German Green Party politician, was hit in the face with eggs before being detained by riot police. "We didn't do anything," he told Reuters as he was led away. Germany's Green Party Chairwoman Claudia Roth called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to raise the issue of rights with Putin at next month's Group of Eight summit. "It has been shown once again today that human rights are systematically abused in Putin's Russia," she said in a statement. Beck was later released. "It is very conspicuous when people are arrested in front of the mayor's office when they were doing nothing other than trying to present a peaceful petition," said Scott Long, a rights activist with Human Rights Watch who observed the events. "There was no real attempt to separate the two sides and that led to people being beaten up," he said. "I would call on the Russian authorities to protect freedom of assembly, protect freedom of expression and protect demonstrators." _________________

05-27-2007, 08:43 PM	#4 (permalink)
PITBOSS Band Whore Join Date: May 2005 Location: Grand Bay Age: 33 Posts: 281 Rep Power: 38	I saw a story on the news a while back that a bunch of Russians who had immigrated to Frisco hopped on a boat back to the USSR just couldn't handle our liberal society. These people went through Communism, I'm sure they're not going to let much slide anymore. This stuff in Pensacola, I would have a problem with the public stuff. I could just imagine having to explain gay behavior to a kid.

05-29-2007, 11:12 AM	#5 (permalink)
wilthrill Band Whore Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 818 Rep Power: 44	I lived in Pensacola in the early 90's and I have NEVER seen a beach so trashed as it was after "gay weekend". More used condoms, wine cooler bottles and pink shit than you ever saw all over the beach!! Hell, even the rednecks don't trash the beachs. I'd say, "if you want to meet that is fine regardless of your sexual orientation but WILL clean up after yourself and we WILL enforce ALL laws and the first guy getting a blowjob in public goes straight to jail." As for the "intolerant" locals, most of us just drove down to Fort Pickens or Navarre. We didn't "beat up" gay people or anything like that. As for the russians, isn't it interesting how the drive-by media ALWAYS refers to Americans as being intolerant and homophobic all the while IGNORING the REAL intolerance and homophobia that is RAMPANT around the world? In fact, the US is FAR MORE TOLERANT of homosexuality than most any other nation on earth!!!