Category Archives: Tourism

Business, LGBT, Politics, Sports, Tourism

BREAKING NEWS: INDY 500 CANCELLED DUE TO INDIANA’S NEW ANTI-GAY LAW

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Photo: oregonlive.com
Photo: oregonlive.com

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (The Adobo Chronicles) –  This has been the biggest fallout yet since Governor Mike Pence signed Indiana’s anti-gay law legalizing discrimination against gay people based on religious belief.

The Indianapolis 500, or Indy 500, scheduled for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, has been scrapped and is being moved to Daytona Beach, Florida. Indy 500 is an automobile race held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis. It is contested as part of the Verizon IndyCar Series, the top level of American Championship Car racing.

The event, billed as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, is considered part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, which comprises three of the most prestigious motorsports events in the world.  It attracts up to 300,000 racing fans, bringing  lots of dollars to companies and local businesses.

Daytona Beach is home to the Daytona International Speedway is a race track which is host to the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR.

In announcing the cancellation, both NASCAR and Verizon said that the decision was in solidarity with the LGBT community which “has suffered enough discrimination not only by political and religious conservatives but also by super macho groups, especially the organizers of major sports events like football and car racing.”

“Daytona Beach is certainly more gay-friendly,” NASCAR and Verizon said.

Upon hearing the news, Governor Pence reportedly suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. His communications director said he is now stable and has been discharged. The governor has been advised, however, not to read newspapers or watch TV news, and to refrain from logging on to his Facebook and other social media accounts in the next week or so. “More negative fallout from the newly-signed law could only aggravate his medical condition,” his doctor said.

International, Science and Environment, Tourism

HAWAII TO IMPORT WHITE SAND FROM THE PHILIPPINES TO SAVE WAIKIKI BEACH

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Photo: The Adobo Chronicles
A gloomy forecast for Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach (Photo: The Adobo Chronicles)

HONOLULU, Hawaii (The Adobo Chronicles) – The world-famous Waikiki Beach, known for its blue water and immaculate white sand, is slowly disappearing, according to a recent report in The Huffington Post: 

“A crumbling, century-old stone wall that juts out from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel is in imminent danger of collapsing, say scientists. The groin is the sole reason sand remains along this main stretch of Waikiki Beach.

Without it, the beach in front of the Royal Hawaiian would likely disappear in a matter of days, said Dolan Eversole, a scientist with the University of Hawaii’s Sea Grant program. It would take several months to a year for the rest of the stretch of sand to erode.”

In an effort to save Waikiki’s billion-dollar tourist industry from also collapsing, the Honolulu City Council is considering several measures to repair the crumbling sea walls in order to prevent the white sand from being washed away to the ocean.

At the same time, Honolulu City Mayor Kirk Caldwell today announced that the city will be importing 27,000 cubic yards of white sand from the Philippines  to replenish what has been lost along the stretch of Waikiki Beach.

The Philippines is known for its white sandy beaches in many of its more than 7,000 islands. International tourists have been visiting beach resorts in the Visayas, Palawan and the Ilocos region in the Philippines mainly for the pristine waters and pearly white sand.

Philippine President NoyNoy Aquino welcomed the news from Hawaii and used the sand export deal to again boast of his administration’s many successes in jumpstarting the country’s economy. “We can use the revenue from the sand export to build more high-rise condominiums in Metro Manila,” Aquino said.

Festivals, LGBT, Religion, Tourism

NO MORE LGBT PRIDE PARADE IN SAN FRANCISCO BEGINNING IN 2016

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imageSAN FRANCISCO, California (The Adobo Chronicles) – LGBT pride and street celebrations are a diminishing breed in the gayest city in the world, San Francisco.

It’s been half a decade since the City of San Francisco decided to crack down on Halloween in the Castro and shut down this street festival that started in 1940.

The annual Pink Party on the eve of Pride Parade, is not going to happen in 2015 because the organizers of the event, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, have decided against  holding it  beginning this year. San Francisco City Hall is mulling sponsoring the event but it will be more like a political campaign rally for those who will be running for public office.

Next on the chopping block is the Castro Street Fair which is held annually on the first Sunday in October.

The biggest LGBT event, the Pride Parade will happen for the last time this year.  It will also be cancelled beginning in 2016.

That leaves the Folsom Street Fair the only, sort-of-LGBT street festival which usually happens on the last Sunday in September.

Beginning next year, however, the Folsom Street Fair will  be free of commercial sponsorships, like the Pink Party.  There will only be one non-profit sponsor which will  subsidize the popular event — the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, under the leadership of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

So expect nudity to be a thing of the past at the Folsom Street Fair. However, there will still be a lot of people being tied up, whipped, spanked, caned and humiliated. Cordileone said that these practices are consistent with biblical accounts of Jesus Christ during the march to Mount Calvary prior to His crucifixion.

If you have procrastinated about attending the Pride Parade, Castro Street Fair and Folsom Street Fair in its original form, this is the year to do it.