Joe.My.God. LGBT News

Via the Orlando Sentinel: First it was this: Orlando beat New York City as the first city to top 50 million visitors. Census figures released Tuesday show Florida passed New York as the nation’s third largest state with an estimated population of 19.9 million. New York, now fourth, has 19.7 million. “There are a lot of benchmarks, but this is …

J. Lester Feder reports at Buzzfeed: The United States on Tuesday dropped the Gambia from a popular free trade agreement in response to a crackdown on LGBT rights and other human rights concerns. The decision to drop the small West African nation from special trade status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000 came late Tuesday afternoon, just …

Via Gay Star News: A resolution that will be presented at the 8 January meeting of the Bexar County Republican Party’s executive committee in San Antonio is demanding the ‘repeal of our local governments’ pro-homosexual policies’. Although same-sex marriage is not legal in Texas, domestic partnership benefits were extended to same-sex couples employed by the city and county in 2011. …

Seriously.

Via the Orlando Sentinel: In a move that could clear the way for same-sex couples to get married in Orange and Osceola counties in two weeks, State Attorney Jeff Ashton on Tuesday announced that he will not prosecute court clerks if they issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples on Jan. 6 or after. The threat of prosecution had …

Here’s the list of theaters.

Back in May, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel declared that while he personally supports same-sex marriage, he would be defending his state’s ban. Today he announced his intent to appeal last month’s stayed ruling to the Eighth Circuit Court. McDaniel had said previously he would wait to make a decision on an appeal until the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in …

Embiggen the above map from Freedom To Marry and marvel at this year’s progress. As seen in the graphic below, even more action is coming early in 2015.

Via Reuters: Gay men will be able to donate blood one year after their last sexual contact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday, under a proposal that will be introduced early next year to end a ban that has been in place since 1983. Scientific evidence shows the move will not create risks for the nation’s blood …