Melissa Nelson Gabriel

mnelsongab@pnj.com

Gay, lesbian and transgender beach visitors heading to a popular Memorial Day gathering that has taken place on Pensacola Beach for decades will share space this year with a Christian music concert.

Christian Surfers of Pensacola helped organize the event, which will include area ministers and national speakers.

Ben Martin of the local Christian Surfers chapter said the May 27 concert on the beach will be free and open to everyone, including people attending the LGBT beach festivities

"We are honoring God, families and the military. We are loving everyone," he said.

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Since the 1960s, members of the LGBT community from around the Gulf Coast region have gathered on Pensacola Beach during Memorial Day weekend. In the 1990s and 2000s, the gathering grew into a massive party featuring major entertainers performing at the downtown Civic Center and at the beach. The gathering has become less structured in recent years, but still draws thousands of revelers to the beach. Many of the visitors wear rainbow-colored clothing and fly rainbow flags to show support for the LGBT community.

Steve Webster, a Los Angeles-based spokesman for concert organizer Lyle Sheppard, said the timing of the Christian concert was unrelated to the LGBT Memorial Day parties that take place on the beach.

"The LGBT community is welcome to come. This is free and everyone is welcome," he said.

The concert is part of an ongoing effort by Sheppard to bring family friendly events to Pensacola Beach, Webster said. Earlier this year, Sheppard canceled a planned spring break concert at the beach. Sheppard he didn't have enough time to organize the major event after getting the necessary approvals from the Santa Rosa Island Authority late last year.

Webster said Sheppard's plan is to have a local Pensacola event that will draw people within driving distance from the beach. Wendy Griffith, co-host of "The 700 Club" television show, has agreed to emcee the concert and the Christian rock band Kutless will be among the performers, he said.

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The concert is scheduled from 2 to 7 p.m. May 27 at Casino Beach.

Cheryle Dill of the Santa Rosa Island Authority said the authority approved a request from Christian Surfers Pensacola and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to use the Beach's Gulfside Pavilion from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day. Dill said the authority has also approved a request by the Pensacola Beach Boardwalk Association to hold an Art Walk on the Boardwalk event the following day from noon to 6 p.m.

For more information about the concert, visit facebook.com/familybeachfest.

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