Joe.My.God. LGBT News

Via the Los Angeles Times: A massive fire in downtown Los Angeles early Monday engulfed an apartment tower under construction, damaged two other buildings and left freeways and roads closed. The northbound 110 Freeway remained closed as of 5 a.m., but Caltrans reopened the 101 Freeway and the southbound 110 at around 4:30 a.m. Caltrans says it hopes to reopen …

“‘I don’t care what you say about me, just spell my name right,’ declared famous showman P.T. Barnum — founder of what today is The Greatest Show on Earth, the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. Playwright Oscar Wilde put it another way: ‘The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.’ That’s a lesson militant …

As the date for same-sex marriage nears, Tampa’s tourism authority is prepping a national ad campaign to lure honeymoon business. Earlier this week, a federal appeals court ruled that a stay in the state’s ban on same-sex nuptials will be lifted Jan. 5 because of the ban’s unconstitutionality. If that holds up, Visit Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County’s nonprofit tourism branch, …

Clip recap: “Marriage could be coming to Florida sooner than we expected. Plus, after last week’s big win, the Mississippi lawsuit is now on the fast track to an appeal. And Kansas just lost their latest attempt to hold back the start of marriage.”

Video by JMG reader Rob.

It’s Arizona all over again. MSNBC reports: Michigan’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives has passed a controversial religious freedom bill, teeing up what civil liberties advocates fear will be another wave of GOP-backed legislation that could cripple LGBT rights. The bill, HB 5958, zipped through the House Judiciary Committee Thursday morning and then the full chamber on a 59-50 party-line vote …

“I believe in the bible. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be a Baptist.” Watch a local news anchor do an admirable job tangling with nutcase Pastor Steven Anderson. Jeremy Hooper weighs in at Good As You: “Let me be the first to say to Steven Anderson: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE KEEP SPEAKING. I can literally hear the clicking of the lightbulbs …

“We are not interested in your filthy lifestyle or book. Romans 1 clearly says god has rejected homos and they are worthy of death. You cannot be saved. Leviticus 20:13 reads ‘If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood …

Clip recap: “Her whole life Miriam lived with the shame and torment that both she and her mother had been sexually abused by pastors. The demon Jezebel took advantage of these moral crimes.”

Via the Chicago Tribune: Several thousand people were evacuated from a Hyatt hotel in suburban Rosemont when an “intentional” chlorine gas leak at a convention led to 19 people being hospitalized early Sunday morning. The incident happened around 12:40 a.m. at the Hyatt, at 9300 West Bryn Mawr Avenue in Rosemont, according to a statement from the Rosemont Public Safety …