JMG Reader Meetup In Tampa

JMG reader Dan writes: "A few of us in the Tampa Bay area are trying to organize a meet-up at the Tampa Theatre on Sunday, Aug 2nd for the Summer Classics Movie Series feature Gone With the Wind. Although we interact regularly with other locals on your forum, we thought it might be fun to meet in person. Can you help us get the word out?"

RELATED:  Built in 1928, the Tampa Theatre reopened in 1978 after decades of disrepair. It's probably the most beautiful theater in the South after Atlanta's Fabulous Fox.

Tampa To Pitch For Marriage Tourism

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, would "almost immediately" court betrothed-minded LGBT folks with its glossy new "To Have and To Hold" blitz. There will be matrimonial-specific print ads in the Northeast, the Middle Atlantic, Ohio and Texas; digital ads in Chicago and Dallas; and conquerwithpride.com, a microsite listing local events, hotels and services. "We've had this campaign ready for a while," Santiago Corrada, president and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, said on the phone from Chile, where he was trumpeting the joys of the bay area to South American executives. This ad campaign — its subtitle is "Our Treasures Are Yours" — adds yet another selling point for the gay community to drop vacation dollars in Tampa Bay. Not only is St. Pete Pride — scheduled for June 26 to 28 — one of the biggest LGBT celebrations in the eastern United States, with more than 100,000 revelers last year, but now Tampa will fire up the party machine March 28 at Pride Parade & Festival in Ybor City.

The tourism and convention bureaus of Fort Lauderdale and Key West have long advertised for LGBT business.

FLORIDA: Major Cities File Joint Amicus Brief In Support Of Same-Sex Marriage

The cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, and Miami Beach today jointly filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs suing for same-sex marriage in a Tallahassee federal court. Also joining the brief are the popular LGBT tourism town of Wilton Manors, the tiny Miami-Dade County town of Biscayne Park, and the government of Broward County (home to Fort Lauderdale, which approved a resolution in support of same-sex marriage in June, but which is not party to the brief). Notably absent from the brief are the city of Miami and all major cities north of Orlando, but that doesn't necessarily mean that those city governments remain in support of Florida's ban.

Billboard Of The Day

Via press release from Wodka:

Panache Beverages' Wodka vodka has released another in a series of eyebrow-raising outdoor advertising campaigns. This time, the brand takes aim at the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. The church recently staged a public protest of Mizzou defensive end Michael Sam after the player came out publicly as gay. Wodka joins the mounting national counter-protest of the church with their new billboard slogan that reads "E-Quality, Westboro Baptist Pricing." The ad features a photograph of two men kissing with the words with the words, "God Loves Us" below. The first "E-Quality" billboard was erected in a LGBT community in Tampa, near the Panache distillery.

Woman Screaming "God, You're My Savior!" Disrupts American Airlines Flight

Tampa's WTSP-TV reports:

The video shows a woman repeatedly yelling "God, you're my savior!" as the plane lands. The man narrating the video claims she told fellow passengers her mother recently passed away and asked for prayers, before she escalated into the screaming chant. The narrator says flight attendants asked that he make sure the woman didn't try approaching the plane's back door. Video shows passengers sitting next to the woman trying to calm her down, without any success. A spokesperson for American Airlines tells 10 News they are aware of the incident and that the flight crew assisted the woman during the flight, but did not elaborate further on her condition.

A commenter on Gawker rants: "Why the fuckity-fuck was she NOT restrained? A passenger starts losing it chanting the WASP version of Alahu Akhbar on my flight and no one restrains them and your airline is getting a major lawsuit from me at the end of the day."

(Tipped by JMG reader David)

FLORIDA: Hillsborough County Repeals Seven Year-Old Ban Of Pride Recognition

Florida's Hillsborough County Commission has unanimously repealed a seven year-old ban on the recognition of gay pride events. The vote was spurred by openly gay County Commissioner Kevin Beckner (above).

The decision was met with applause and a standing ovation from supporters in the audience at County Center. Earlier Wednesday, the speakers included Terry Kemple, head of the Hillsborough-based Community Issues Council. Prior to the vote, he spent time rallying opposition to what he called Commissioner Kevin Beckner's "crusade to push for county government recognition of homosexual behavior." Before Wednesday's vote, no other group of residents had its activities similarly deemed unrecognizable by county government. A supermajority of at least five of the seven commissioners was needed to undo the ban. Prior to the decision, Commissioner Les Miller called on his colleagues to end the ban."It's is time to repeal this ugly ordinance that hangs over the head of this county," he said.

Hillsborough County has a population of 1.2M and its largest city is Tampa. (Tipped by JMG reader Dennis)

Tampa Bay Hazes New Ballplayers

By putting them in drag and having them dance to Call Me Maybe. For added humiliation, the players were forced to wear their outfits back to the team hotel in Boston. They all seemed to have a great time.

Signorile Asks Rep. Aaron Schock

In past Schock has maintained that he is not gay. In addition to his vote against the repeal of DADT, he voted against the Hate Crimes Act and has stated his opposition to same-sex marriage. He has a 0% rating from the Human Rights Campaign and votes the GOP party line 93% of the time.

Grinding At The RNC

Buzzfeed has some funnier ones.

RNC Mystery Speaker: Clint Eastwood

The teabaggers are disappointed. They wanted Palin or Hologram Reagan. Still it's an interesting choice considering this from Eastwood last year:

"These people who are making a big deal about gay marriage? I don’t give a fuck about who wants to get married to anybody else! Why not?! We’re making a big deal out of things we shouldn’t be making a deal out of. Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want."

Has Eastwood flip-flopped on marriage? Maybe we'll get a hint tonight.

Bus Snafus Plague RNC

If you've been monitoring the most popular Twitter hashtags for the RNC, you already know that the shuttle bus service for the press and delegates has been a nightmare since the event began three days ago.

On a political high from the convention speeches, delegates entered the humid night in Tampa to find a confusing transportation network devoid of signs and volunteer guides stumped on which bus was headed where. "There weren’t a lot of directions," said Utah House Majority Leader Brad Dee, R-Ogden. "Instead of lines for the buses, there were masses for the buses." Security checkpoints, closed-off streets and bus drivers who wouldn’t let passengers alight from the coach added to the fiasco.

And it wasn’t just Utahns stuck on the bus. Delegates from California, Texas, Arkansas and Connecticut found themselves back at their rented rooms two hours after the convention gaveled closed for the night. An enterprising Illinois delegate reported that he took up a collection of money on the bus to bribe the driver to get them back to their hotel. "We told the driver he could have it all, all $600 if he’d drive away," the delegate was overheard telling fellow Republicans at his morning breakfast.

My schadenfreude over this story is very muted as the Democrats have not yet even posted their own shuttle bus schedule, which was promised to us two days ago. I haven't been able to commit to a single event yet. The same bus company was hired for both conventions and my guess is that the DNC is scrambling for options having seen the fiasco in Tampa. (Tipped by JMG reader Dan)

Lane Turner - I Built It

Top comment on YouTube: "Sung in a stadium built with taxpayer's money, at a Convention that accepted $18 million in taxpayer subsidies."

The GOP Is A Big Tent

Frothy Loves Men's Hands

Chris Christie Keynotes The RNC

Homocon A Go-Go

Buzzfeed reporter Chris Geidner tweeted out the above photo of the entertainment at GOProud's Homocon 2012 party. Maybe it's early, but I'm not seeing "1000 conservative supporters" there. I guess they're all in the can.

UPDATE: Looks like they actually got a big crowd although the photos so far don't seem to show that. Maybe there will be video.

Ann Romney Speaks At The RNC

Welcome To Tampa

Source.

Who Is The GOP's Mystery Speaker?

I predict the Zombie Andrew Breitbart. Coke spoon in one hand, boxed wine in the other.

Log Cabin Republicans Publish Full-Page Marriage Ad In Tampa Newspaper

Good for them! Now let's see if they endorse the man who has pledged to inflict an anti-gay marriage amendment upon the U.S. Constitution.