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Welcome to Gay Hell, Michigan, where only pride flags are allowed to fly

Posted at 11:45 AM, Jun 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-18 11:45:46-04

(CNN) — Youtuber Elijah Daniel has pulled a lot of stunts since he started creating content, but his latest act as Mayor of Hell has a lot of people talking.

Daniel purchased Hell, Michigan, for Pride Month and used the opportunity to rename the town Gay Hell.

Gay Hell, which is about 20 miles northwest of Ann Arbor, has been on sale for years. Daniel says he can’t disclose how much he paid to be mayor for two weeks as he is in the process of purchasing the town permanently.

In 2017, Daniel was also Mayor of Hell and banned heterosexual people in the town as a stunt.

He says that his first act as owner this time was to only allow pride flags after the Trump administration put a ban on embassies flying pride flags.

This time it’s not as much of a stunt as his way of making a statement. Daniel says the new purchase is, “Getting my audience involved in politics by doing it in a funny way.”

Daniel is from Michigan and says that he always drove past the town growing up. He also grew up “very religious” and was told a lot if you’re gay you go to Hell, Daniel said.

So Daniel figured that Gay Hell would be perfect in a rural, religious area.

“I’m just from Michigan and every time we drove past we knew that town, oh that’s Hell. I just thought turning it into Gay Hell would be funny,” Daniel said of his decision to rename the town.

The reaction has been very mixed, Daniel admits, with some people loving it and others very not so much.

“It’s been pretty good for my fans,” Daniel explained. ” A lot of upset Trump fans, but that’s nothing new to me.”

But Daniel is interested in keeping the town and hopes to make small changes. He says he hopes to do an annual festival to welcome more people to Gay Hell.