Polish watchdog backs off `Teletubbies' comment

Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's watchdog for children's rights was quoted as saying she would ask psychologists to investigate whether the TV "Teletubbies" character Tinky Winky is gay. On Tuesday, she backed away from the comments.

Ewa Sowinska, ombudsman for children's rights, said in the latest edition of a magazine that the purse-carrying character on the British Broadcastinhg Corp.'s "Teletubbies" children's show could promote homosexuality.

Journalists from the weekly "Wprost" mentioned claims the "Teletubbies" promote homosexuality, to which Sowinska replied that she had heard of the issue. The journalists then asked about Tinky Winky.

"I noticed that he has a purse, but I didn't realize he's a boy. At first I thought that must be a bother for him," Sowinska told the magazine in an interview her office approved before publication. "Later I learned that there could be some hidden homosexual undertones."

Sowinska said she would ask her office's psychologists to look into the allegations "and judge whether it can be shown on public television and whether the suggested problem really exists."

On Tuesday, Sowinska's spokeswoman Wieslawa Lipinska told The Associated Press that Sowinska "hasn't asked and won't ask" psychologists to investigate whether "Teletubbies" promote homosexuality.

"They are fictional characters, they have nothing to do with reality, and the bag and scissors and other props the fictional characters use are there to create a fictional world that speaks to children," Lipinska said. "We are not going to deal with this issue any more."

Sowinska is a member of the League of Polish Families party, which is militantly anti-gay rights and anti-abortion. The party is a junior member in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

A similar controversy erupted in the United States in 1999 when a publication belonging to the evangelical leader, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, suggested that Tinky Winky was gay.

In a statement Tuesday, the BBC denied the allegations against the program.

"Children love to play with bags of all kinds and this fascination is reflected in Tinky Winky's favorite thing," the BBC said. "To suggest the series has a political agenda is simply not true."

Back from Boston: Johnny Diaz to read from his new book Thursday in Coral Gables

Former Miami Herald reporter Johnny Diaz will read from his new novel, Boston Boys Club, 8 p.m. Thursday at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables.

From Bay Windows, New England's largest gay newspaper: "Boys Club is the debut novel of Boston Globe writer Johnny Diaz, clearly drawing on his own experiences as a Cuban transplant among Boston Brahmins and queers from Revere. Part of the fun is trying to puzzle out where fiction ends and thinly disguised fact begins. Whose the TV weatherman that Rico beds? Is Diaz mocking himself or his ex boyfriend (MTV Real World: Miami cast member Dan Renzi) with his treatment of Kyle?"

By the way, I'll be introducing Johnny at Thursday's reading.

Up from chaos: Talent, theater transform a troubled life

BY CHRISTINE DOLEN

cdolen@MiamiHerald.com

By the time he was in middle school, Tarell McCraney was already a dreamer who knew too well how hard life can be.

As he watched his mother struggle with drug addiction, he often became a stand-in parent to his three younger siblings. Some days, he wasn't sure when the family would eat, or whether the electricity would still be on when he got home from school.

Though he found more stability at his father's home in Liberty City, the tall, graceful teenager became the target of bullies; once, they chased him down the street, lobbing rocks and ugly words at him. When the boys abruptly stopped, McCraney realized it was because they didn't want to risk breaking the windows on nearby parked cars.

''I took from that how much my community valued me,'' he muses. ``Worth less than . . . glass.''

Back then, he felt lost. Then he found a life in theater.

Today, Tarell Alvin McCraney will graduate from the Yale School of Drama with a master's degree in playwriting and a future so bright that, as his mentor and friend Teo Castellanos puts it, ``he has to wear shades.''

Theater, McCraney says again and again, ``saved my life.''

He got thrown that lifeline during his freshman year at South Miami High School, when a guidance counselor told Castellanos she had a ''troubled'' kid he might want to consider for a new teen theater program he was putting together at the Village South.

''When I met him, he was very green, shy and not a good actor. We learned a lot together,'' says Castellanos, the award-winning creator of NE Second Avenue and Scratch & Burn. ``I saw this kid who needed a place to cultivate his interests and where it was OK to be gay. His mom had been a substance abuser and was HIV positive. He was totally in the right place.''

A WORLD OF INFLUENCE

Castellanos exposed his young performers to theatrical styles and spiritual influences from around the world. The company's mission was to use theater to spread a drug-prevention and HIV-awareness message, and Castellanos challenged the kids to create their own work. McCraney did.

''He did a piece he called Crack House, which he performed at a substance-abuse program. By the end, the audience would be bawling,'' says Castellanos, who considers McCraney ``my son in art.''

McCraney switched to Miami's New World School of the Arts his sophomore year in high school, and though he thought about becoming a dancer, he settled on acting.

''My dad thought dance was for girls and effeminate. He didn't have the exposure to know that dance without boys is kind of boring. He didn't want me to do something that might make me ridiculed,'' McCraney says. ``But I honor art forms that make order out of chaos. When you grow up in a chaotic world like I did, you seek order.''

IMPORTANT FORCES

At New World, guidance counselor Sylvan Seidenman and his wife Sandy became important forces in McCraney's life. When McCraney couldn't come up with the money to apply to Chicago's DePaul University and travel there to audition, Seidenman and a few New World parents provided it.

Seidenman says McCraney ``became a force around here almost immediately. He's like a magnetic force . . . His magic is apparent wherever he goes.''

Since midway through McCraney's years as an acting major at DePaul, the Seidenmans have traveled to see every play he has performed in or written. McCraney calls them his godparents. Along with his proud family, the couple will be in the audience at Yale today when McCraney gets his degree. The difference they have made in his life, he says, isn't just financial.

''Regardless of blood ties, they care about me and my well being,'' McCraney says. ``I had a terrible time trusting people. They taught me there are people you can count on.''

Though he didn't have great confidence in his ability as an actor, the six-foot, three-inch McCraney got noticed in Chicago, getting cast in a production of Blue/Orange directed by Tina Landau (and earning a prestigious Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for his performance), getting chosen by legendary British director Peter Brook to work on a project that ultimately didn't happen. He had begun writing, and the nascent talent he showed in plays like Without/Sin got him admitted to Yale, home of the most prestigious playwriting program in the country.

But before he could move to New Haven, Conn., more personal chaos. His mother, Marian Alvin, died less than two months after McCraney graduated with honors from DePaul. Not quite 18 when McCraney was born, mother and son had grown up together: ''We were so close, like friends,'' he says.

Though she was very ill at the time Yale accepted him, ''I think she knew,'' McCraney says, his eyes glistening with tears.

In his three years at Yale, McCraney has been prolific and driven. He has written a trilogy he calls the ''Brother/Sister Plays,'' dedicated to his sister Keonme, his younger brother Jason and his youngest brother Paul, who is now doing prison time in Georgia for marijuana possession. When The Brothers Size, the play inspired by Jason and Paul, was produced at the New York's Public Theatre's Under the Radar Festival in January, it ignited a buzz that is only growing louder.

''Finding someone like Tarell makes my job completely worthwhile,'' says Mark Russell, the longtime artistic director of Manhattan's new-work incubator P.S. 122, now the producer of Under the Radar.

``I loved the stripped-down quality, the beautiful muscularity of the language. It says he's a writer right away. I loved the way he was using the orishas [the names given spirits by West Africa's Yoruban people] in a contemporary setting. It's a gorgeous, genius idea. We'll be thinking and hearing about Tarell's work for years to come.''

`WHO IS THIS GUY?'

Emily Mann, artistic director of the Tony Award-winning McCarter Theatre in Princeton, N.J., felt the same way when she began to read McCraney's In the Red and Brown Water, the play dedicated to Keonme.

'By the time I turned the first page, I said, `Oh, my God, who is this guy?' The last time I had a reaction like that was when I first read Nilo Cruz's work. We did The Brothers Size as the centerpiece of our IN-Festival [in February]. I have invited Tarell to make the McCarter his artistic home,'' Mann says.

Playwright Richard Nelson, head of Yale's playwriting program, says that the excitement surrounding McCraney's work isn't just unusual.

''The kind of attention and interest he has engendered as a student is pretty much unheard of,'' says Nelson, who helped McCraney sign on with an agent at International Creative Management.

``He's confident in his own voice . . . He writes speeches that really sing on the stage. There's something very theatrical about him and his writing . . . He works extremely hard, and he's very prolific. I just wish he would sleep a bit more.''

Looking at his schedule through February, that's not likely to happen soon. After getting his own degree at Yale today, McCraney will be back in Miami Wednesday giving the commencement speech at New World's high school graduation ceremony. Coming back to Miami -- and finding a way to give back to Miami -- are as important to McCraney as his beckoning career.

''I was preparing myself to be this busy,'' says McCraney, now 26. ``I decided to dedicate myself to doing 90 different things, so that by the time I'm 30, I can dedicate myself to one thing at a time.''

One of his most cherished dreams is to start, with other artists who have South Florida connections, a professional company, a training program and an outreach program for arts students in Miami.

''My goal is to get enough of a name and cultural cachet that I can give back to the community in a way that will help save more lives,'' he says.

His father Stephen jokes that the Carnival Center was built for his son. Maybe, in a sense, it was.

When McCraney comes home, he usually stays at his father's house in Liberty City. And despite the remembered pain of youth, despite the fact that his sexuality is something ''my dad will never have a conversation about,'' McCraney feels most at home there.

''I love staying in Liberty City, being in the middle of that again,'' says the young man whose own life has been all about navigating dichotomies.

``Even though it has an astronomical number of shootings, at the same time, there's a sea breeze and these awesome, breathtaking sunsets. Those things live in the same space.''

Photo by JARED LAZARUS / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Tarell McCraney, center front, poses with the cast of The Breach -- from left, Sheaun McKinney, John Archie, Karen Stephens, Joe Kimble, Kameshia Duncan and Dan Leonard -- at the Florida Stage in Manalapan.

» More Photos 

McCRANEY'S PLAYBILL

Tarell Alvin McCraney was born in Miami on Oct. 17, 1980. He graduated from the New World School of the Arts high school program in 1999, Chicago's DePaul University in 2003, and will receive his master's degree in playwriting from Yale University today.

• Wig Out, a play inspired by the ''beautiful, glamorous, sad, dangerous'' stories McCraney heard from transsexual transgendered kids he met in Miami, will go through a developmental process July 9-29 at Utah's Sundance Institute Theatre Laboratory.

• The Breach, a play by McCraney, Catherine Filloux and Joe Sutton, will have its world premiere Sept. 5-30 at Southern Repertory Theater in New Orleans. Set in the days just after Hurricane Katrina, it tells three interwoven stories (McCraney's is about a family trapped on a roof). Seattle Repertory Theatre will also produce the play Jan. 10-Feb. 9.

• The Brothers Size, one of McCraney's ''Brother/Sister Plays,'' will be produced at London's Young Vic Theatre Nov. 8-Dec. 8. It is also under consideration for production by a major Manhattan-based company next season.

• In the Red and Brown Water, first in the Brother/Sister trilogy, will be produced at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre (winner of this year's regional theater Tony Award) Feb. 1-24.

Miami Beach Bruthaz 2007 coming in July

From the website:

Miami Beach Bruthaz is an annual retreat held on South Beach for gay men and women that promotes unity and camaraderie. For four days, attendees from across the country gather to socialize, network, empower each other and learn about issues facing the gay community. Topics to be discussed this year include:

§   Gays in the Military - One Man's Struggle and Lawsuit Against the Federal Government

§    An Update on HIV and AIDS

§    The Gay Marriage Agenda

§  The Truth About Gay Relationships

§  Latino Gay Men in America- A Journey of Assimilation

§   The 2008 Presidential Election and the Gay Vote

§   Rebuilding Your Credit

The event also includes networking socials such as a reception on the terrace, buffet luncheons and a male model search. Miami Beach Bruthaz welcomes the participation of all, regardless of age, creed, gender, gender identification (including gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender) , HIV Status, national origin, physical, mental or development ability, religion or sexual orientation.

Tony-winner Charles Nelson Reilly dies; was best known for his campy persona on 'Match Game'

LOS ANGELES -- (AP) -- Charles Nelson Reilly, the Tony Award winner who later became known for his ribald appearances on the Tonight Show and various game shows, has died. He was 76.

Reilly died Sunday in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia, his partner, Patrick Hughes, told The New York Times.

Reilly began his career in New York City, taking acting classes at a studio with Steve McQueen, Geraldine Page and Hal Holbrook. In 1962, he appeared as Bud Frump in the original Broadway production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The role won Reilly a Tony Award.

He was nominated for a Tony again for playing Cornelius in Hello, Dolly! In 1997, he received another nomination for directing Julie Harris and Charles Durning in a revival of The Gin Game.

He gained fame by becoming what he described as a ''game-show fixture'' in the 1970s and '80s. He was a regular on programs like Match Game and Hollywood Squares, often wearing giant glasses and colorful suits with ascots.

His larger-than-life persona and affinity for double-entendres also landed him on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson more than 95 times.

Reilly's openly gay television persona was ahead of its time and sometimes stood in his way.

He recalled a network executive telling him ``they don't let queers on television.''

Gay bar wins right to ban heterosexuals

From ninemsn in Australia:

By ninemsn staff

A Melbourne gay bar has been granted an exemption from the Equal Opportunity Act in a landmark ruling which will allow security to refuse entry to heterosexuals.

The owners of Collingwood's Peel Hotel, which came under fire in April for promoting a gay Anzac Day party, successfully argued to the state planning tribunal that banning heterosexuals from the club would prevent "sexually based insults and violence".

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal granted the controversial powers to the club last week, the Herald Sun reports.

VCAT deputy president Cate McKenzie claimed that allowing straight men and women into the club would defeat the purpose of the venue.

"This would undermine or destroy the atmosphere which the company wishes to create," McKenzie said.

"Sometimes heterosexual groups and lesbian groups insult and deride and are even physically violent towards the gay male patrons."

McKenzie said some straight women came to the club because they found the gay patrons entertaining.

"To regard the gay male patrons of the venue as providing an entertainment or spectacle to be stared at, as one would at an animal at a zoo, devalues and dehumanises them," she said.

"(This exemption) seeks to give gay men a space in which they may, without inhibition, meet, socialise and express physical attraction to each other in a non-threatening atmosphere."

A spokeswoman for the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Lobby Group told the Herald Sun that gay men at the Peel had been made to feel like "zoo animals".

"This exemption was not sought to exclude members of the community but to try to maintain a safe space for men to meet," the spokeswoman said.

"It's sad that members of our community would have to go to the VCAT to preserve their rights.

"This is one of the only free venues with live music in the area, so certainly some people may feel a bit unhappy about the decision."

Russian Police Detain Gays as Punches, Eggs Fly

From New York Times:

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

Riot police detained the protesters, including two European parliamentarians, 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.

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.

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 told Reuters by telephone from a police station that about 30 gay activists had been detained. Police said about 20 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.

``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 told Reuters. 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 told Reuters before being hit. Blood dripped from his face after the attack.

Volker Beck, a German Green Party politician and gay rights campaigner, 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 President Vladimir Putin at next month's G8 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.''

Gay travel: Family-friendly vacations

BY LoANN HALDEN, www.outtraveler.com

More than 135,000 gays and lesbians are expected in Orlando for the annual Gay Days festivities, a weeklong series of events beginning Tuesday that sprouted from a small group trip to Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 1991. Activities for grown-up gay friends of Mickey are a staple, but this year marks the debut of a hotel and event package that targets gay families as well.

''A lot of people who went to Gay Day early on to party now have families,'' says Yesi Leon, who conceptualized Gay Day Family with Alison Burgos and Amy Alonso. ``So many people told us that they wished they could bring their kids to Gay Day, but there were no events for kids to enjoy. Now there are. We want kids with two moms or two dads to feel like they belong and their families are accepted.''

The South Florida event producers hope to tap into the expanding ranks of gay families contributing to the $54 billion gay travel market -- like San Francisco-based journalist Gretchen Lee, filmmaker-media producer Evie Leder and their 3-year-old daughter, Rose Leder-Lee. The couple began traveling with Rose when she was only 4 months old.

''Rose is enrolled in three frequent flier programs,'' Lee says, adding that their daughter has already logged 13 cross-country trips.

STRIKING A BALANCE

According to a recent study by Witeck-Combs Communications and the research firm Packaged Facts, an estimated 1.8 million gay and lesbian households now include at least one child. But planning a gay-friendly family vacation isn't always as simple as heading to the nearest airport. It requires striking a balance between the gay and heterosexual travel worlds.

Many destinations known for catering to gay travelers -- such as Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale and Key West -- focus their marketing on singles looking for a party atmosphere or romantic getaways. Gay guesthouses often have a no-kids policy.

Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the national gay family advocacy organization Family Pride, is well versed in the push and pull between a location's appeal as gay hotspot and family attraction. The organization draws as many as 500 families to Provincetown, Mass., each summer for its Family Week activities.

''We've always really enjoyed being in Provincetown and for the most part have had great experiences, but I definitely know there's a little undertow from restaurant owners and shop owners who rely on a certain profile in terms of their businesses,'' she says. ``They worry that a huge influx of families means they won't see the same bar receipts or the same nightclub activity.''

Taking a mainstream approach to travel provides access to family-friendly amenities like homey hotels, restaurants with high chairs and playgrounds, but it can also attract unwanted attention.

''For dads in particular, it's a really sensitive issue,'' she says. ``In this society people still don't expect to see two men with a baby -- and particularly not traveling.''

Minneapolis residents Tim Creagan and his life partner, Fred Bertron, say that when they adopted their son Thomas six years ago, it changed the way they looked at travel.

''Now we worry about what potential things our son might hear,'' Creagan says. ``We were driving through the Carolinas and passed through some small town that all these Confederate flags flying. There was a time we would have probably stopped and still had lunch -- when we were just two guys. But when it's two guys and their baby, you definitely keep the gas pedal down and make your way through town. It's important that Thomas have a great time on vacation; we don't want to put ourselves in a position where we're going to feel uncomfortable.''

POPULAR CHOICES

Major cities like New York, Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco are popular choices for gay parents who want to balance kid-friendly museums and attractions with hiring a babysitter and taking some couple time at night.

''Places where there are so many interesting people and walking around is an adventure are good for gay families,'' Leder says. 'As gay travelers, we want to be appreciated. I would prefer that we be noticed as a two-mom family rather than misunderstood as being `sisters' or 'friends.' ''

Vacations marketed specifically to gay families used to be nonexistent, but that changed in 2004 with the launch of R Family Vacations, which brought national attention to this overlooked niche. The Rosie O'Donnell-backed company hosts cruises and land-based vacations that merge a gay-affirming environment with kid-friendly activities.

The rest of the travel world is slowly following. Olivia Cruises and Resorts has hosted family-oriented weeks at Florida Club Med, while Leon, Burgos, and Alonso took cues from R Family in planning their Gay Day events.

In Fort Lauderdale, where nearly 30 gay guesthouses cater predominantly to men, the gay-owned Sandra Lee Inn is building a word-of-mouth following as ``the family alternative for alternative families.''

This year, Family Pride celebrates the 12th anniversary of Family Week in Provincetown by partnering with R Family Vacations.

''The most important thing gay families look for when deciding on a destination is a safe environment,'' says Chrisler, who travels with her life partner and their 5-year-old twin boys. ``I think that's why you've seen such tremendous growth and success with companies like R Family Vacations, while we've seen such incredible growth in the number of families that attend Family Week.''

Summer getaways for gay families

Gay Russians vow to demonstrate

BY JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press

MOSCOW -- Russian gay activists vowed Saturday to demonstrate in Moscow despite a ban by the city authorities, a year after a similar attempt led to arrests by police and attacks by right-wing nationalists.

The Sunday demonstration would mark the 14th anniversary of Russia's decriminalization of homosexuality. Despite the decriminalization, intolerance of homosexuality remains high in Russia; it is denounced by the dominant Russian Orthodox Church and President Vladimir Putin in his annual news conference implied that gays were undermining the country by not procreating.

Right-wingers punched demonstrators at last year's gay rights event as elderly spectators shouted. Police broke up the fights and arrested some of the demonstrators.

This year, the activists applied for permission to march to the Lubyanka Stone, a monument commemorating victims of Soviet oppression that stands near the former KGB headquarters. But city authorities refused permission, saying the planned march was a threat to public order.

Nikolai Alexeyev, a leader of the Gay Russia movement, announced Saturday that demonstrators would instead gather outside the Moscow mayor's office to try to hand over a letter signed by scores of European lawmakers supporting gays' right to demonstrate. He said he expected 150-200 people.

City police spokesman Viktor Bryukov said afterwards that "the capital's police will halt any attempt at provocation," the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

Several legislators from Western Europe plan to take part in the demonstration, including Vladimir Luxuria, a trans-gender Italian parliament member.

The only Russian politician to publicly support the demonstration comes from an unexpected wing: the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party.

"If they can prohibit demonstrations on the basis of sexual elements, then tomorrow they might not like your political orientation," said party lawmaker Alexei Mitrofanov, who also suggested that allowing a gay demonstration would be good for Russia's bid for the 2014 winter Olympics.

Nothing that the vote for the winning bid is little more than a month away, Mitrofanov said, "I think in the run-up to such an event Russia should have, let's say, a European image."

Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina of the Russian pop group Tatu also say they will participate. Tatu attracted worldwide attention in recent years with a homoerotic stage show, even though the singers later said they are not lesbians.

Gays flock to Fla. Panhandle for holiday

BY MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press

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.