JMG Swag: Win Passes To World Premiere Of Magic Mike XXL In Los Angeles

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures, we've got two passes to attend the world premiere of Magic Mike XXL next Thursday night at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, where the entire cast will be in attendance. Enter to win by commenting (once) on this post. Entries close at midnight on Sunday and the randomly selected winner will be notified by a Disqus response or by email if you choose to leave one in your comment. If you are unable to be in Los Angeles on the night of the premiere, your winning entry can be transferred to your favorite fan of beefcakery. Below is all the legal stuff about the contest.

Enter for the chance to win passes to the star-studded Los Angeles premiere screening of "Magic Mike XXL!" One lucky winner and a guest will have the chance to attend the star- studded Los Angeles premiere screening of "Magic Mike XXL" on June 25*! “Magic Mike XXL” reunites Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Adam Rodriguez and Gabriel Iglesias, stars of the 2012 worldwide hit “Magic Mike.”

Picking up the story three years after Mike bowed out of the stripper life at the top of his game, “Magic Mike XXL” finds the remaining Kings of Tampa likewise ready to throw in the towel. But they want to do it their way: burning down the house in one last blow-out performance in Myrtle Beach, and with legendary headliner Magic Mike sharing the spotlight with them. On the road to their final show, with whistle stops in Jacksonville and Savannah to renew old acquaintances and make new friends, Mike and the guys learn some new moves and shake off the past in surprising ways.

Joining the returning cast, in brand new roles, are Amber Heard (“The Rum Diary”), Donald Glover (“Community”), Stephen 'tWitch’ Boss (“Step Up Revolution”) and Michael Strahan (“Live with Kelly and Michael”), with Andie MacDowell (“Footloose”), Elizabeth Banks (“The Hunger Games” films), and Jada Pinkett Smith (“Gotham”).

“Magic Mike XXL” is directed by Emmy Award winner Gregory Jacobs (“Behind the Candelabra”), who served as a producer on “Magic Mike,” as well as numerous features in a long-running collaboration with Steven Soderbergh. “Magic Mike XXL” is produced by Nick Wechsler, Gregory Jacobs, Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin, with a screenplay by Carolin. Steven Soderbergh, who directed the first film, will executive produce. A Warner Bros. Pictures presentation, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. Rated R for strong sexual content, pervasive language, some nudity and drug use.

"Magic Mike XXL" opens in theaters nationwide July 1! NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void where prohibited. The Sweepstakes is sponsored by JoeMyGod.com. One Grand Prize winner will receive a pair of passes to the Los Angeles premiere screening of "Magic Mike XXL" on Thursday, June 25 at 7pm*, a t-shirt, a hat, and a mini-poster! Four Runners-Up will each receive a t-shirt, a hat, and a mini-poster.

Sweepstakes open to U.S. residents & D.C. only 18 years of age & older.   *Travel and accommodations to the premiere are the sole responsibility of  the winner. Premiere location will be provided directly to the Grand Prize winner upon redemption. Prize is for the Los Angeles premiere screening  only and does not include after-party passes. Screening passes must be picked up at the event no later than 6:45pm. Passes are non-transferable and may not be sold. No entry will be permitted once screening begins.  Winner understands and agrees that Sponsor and the applicable prize providers have the right, in their sole discretion, to remove such winner or his/her guest from the screening if winner's or his/her guest's behavior is at any point uncooperative, disruptive, or may or does cause damage to person, property, or the reputation of Sponsor or any prize provider.

Kiss-Cam Gay Couple Comes Forward

They're even married!

LOS ANGELES: Fans Cheer As Gay Male Couple Smooches For Stadium Kiss-Cam

Via Deadspin:

Back in 2000, two women were kicked out of Dodger Stadium for kissing. The team and the world have changed since then. Between innings of Saturday’s game, the stadium’s Kiss Cam team found two men, not as a joke, but a couple. It’s cool that this wasn’t the still-prevalent homophobic gag of forcing two platonic male friends to awkwardly recoil at the thought of kissing another dude. It’s also cool that the reaction from the crowd was a genuine cheer. Reader Steven, who was in the ballpark, says he was “proud of the loud, enthusiastic response from the crowd. Not one person around me groaned or made derogatory remarks, and seemed genuinely pleased with the moment.” The Dodgers have held LGBT nights in recent years, and while it’s great to publicly announce that everyone’s welcome, there’s nothing quite like being normalized by dorky in-stadium entertainment to make everyone feel included.

(Tipped by JMG reader Helen)

LOS ANGELES: Officials Report Possible Cases Of Rare Ocular Syphillis Strain

Via the Los Angeles Times:

Public health officials across the West Coast are urging medical professionals to look out for cases of ocular syphilis – a sexually transmitted disease that can cause blindness – after two potential cases in Los Angeles recently. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued an advisory for primary and eye-care providers to look out for symptoms associated with the disease, which is usually a complication of primary or secondary syphilis infections. With more than a dozen cases – most of them among gay men – reported between Seattle and San Francisco and now potentially two in Southern California, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is calling for medical professionals to do more. Some of the patients also are HIV positive, including six in San Francisco. In Seattle, two of the patients went blind.

My report on the Seattle cases is here.

CALIFORNIA: Dozens Injured In Commuter Train Collision With Truck

Via the Los Angeles Times:

A Metrolink train derailed in Oxnard early today after colliding with a tractor trailer on the tracks. The collision occurred about 5:55 a.m. at the Rice Road crossing, Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson told the Los Angeles Times. The collision derailed three of the passenger train’s cars and injured at least 30 people, he said. He could not confirm initial reports of casualties. Television images from the scene show train cars lying on their side and the burned-out remains of the truck.

Just two weeks ago seven were killed north of Manhattan when a commuter train collided with an SUV.

UPDATE: CNN reports that the driver of the truck fled the scene on foot and has been apprehended.

LOS ANGELES: Glee Cast To Perform At Family Equality Council Awards Gala

The Family Equality Council will hold its Los Angeles Awards gala on Saturday. Performers include Cheyenne Jackson and Glee cast members Lea Michelle, Darren Criss, and Chord Overstreet. If you'd like to attend, hit the link for a $20 raffle to win air travel for two and two nights at the Beverly Hilton. Entries close tomorrow.

LOS ANGELES: Ninth Circuit Court Upholds Law Mandating Condoms In Porn

Via the Associated Press:

A Los Angeles County ordinance requiring actors in pornographic films to use condoms does not violate the porn industry's First Amendment rights of free expression, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The decision from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the industry's contention that having actors use condoms would interfere with a film's fantasy element by subjecting viewers to real-word concerns like pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. For the First Amendment argument to apply, the court ruled, there would have to be a great likelihood that a film's audience would understand that intended message. "Here, we agree with the district court that, whatever unique message plaintiffs might intend to convey by depicting condomless sex, it is unlikely that viewers of adult films will understand that message," said Judge Susan P. Graber, writing for the panel's majority.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation head Michael Weinstein called the ruling a "total vindication." The AHF was the bill's primary backer. A similar bill to implement the rule statewide died last year in a state Senate committee. Weinstein has vowed to place the issue to a public ballot if the bill is not resurrected.

Massive Fire In Downtown Los Angeles

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 the 110 north by 8 a.m. More than 250 firefighters battled the blaze at an apartment tower under construction in the 900 block of Fremont Avenue, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman David Ortiz said. The building contained was 1.3 million square feet of floor space, and officials said two-thirds of it was consumed by flames.

Authorities are advising commuters to seek alternate routes through downtown.

Billboard Of The Day

Via the Catholic League:

For the past several years, we’ve been engaged in a battle of the billboards with our atheist foes at Christmastime. The typical venue has been New York City, the media capital of the nation. This year we chose to put our mark on the culture by making a statement in Los Angeles, right outside of Hollywood. The billboard, which will be on display until December 28, is huge and illuminated. It is posted on Pico Boulevard, just west of Fairfax Avenue, in one of the most heavily traveled East-West arteries in Los Angeles. Located in the Miracle Mile district of Mid-City, the billboard targets traffic traveling between Century City and Downtown Los Angeles. No, the Hollywood moguls who disrespect Christians are not the same as radical Muslims who behead us, but both are full of hate. Moreover, both need to be challenged. Christians are fed up with the barbarians abroad and the bigots at home. It’s time all these bullies learned to practice the virtue of tolerance and the meaning of diversity.

LOS ANGELES: Couple Tried For Killing "Gay Acting" Eight Year-Old Son

In a case that mirrors a similarly tragic outcome earlier this year in Oregon, a Los Angeles couple is being tried for viciously abusing and murdering the mother's eight year-old son after taunting him for playing with dolls. You may not want to read any further.

Before 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez was allegedly beaten to death by his mother and her boyfriend, they doused him with pepper spray, forced him to eat his own vomit and locked him in a cabinet with a sock stuffed in his mouth to muffle his screams, according to court records made public Monday. Sworn grand jury testimony provided a graphic examination of the abuse that the Antelope Valley boy allegedly suffered before his death in May of 2013. The incident prompted calls for sweeping reforms to the troubled Los Angeles County foster-care system because child welfare workers failed to remove the boy. Officials have taken steps to fire two social workers and two supervisors, while others involved in the case received letters of warning or reprimand. Fernandez and Aguirre deliberately tortured the boy to death, hiding their tracks with forged doctor's notes and lies to authorities, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami told the grand jury. "For eight straight months, he was abused, beaten and tortured more severely than many prisoners of war," Hatami said. The abuse worsened in the months leading up to Gabriel's death, according to testimony from two of his siblings, both of whom are minors. They said Gabriel was forced to eat cat feces, rotten spinach and his own vomit. He slept in a locked cabinet and wasn't let out to go to the bathroom. Fernandez and Aguirre called Gabriel gay, punished him when he played with dolls and forced him to wear girls' clothes to school, the siblings said.

Gabriel had written a suicide note, but child welfare authorities reportedly "dismissed" that information because the note contained "no specific plan" for him to kill himself. (Tipped by JMG reader Dennis)

LOS ANGELES: Porn Shoot Permits Drop 90% After Condom Use Mandate

In November 2012, Los Angeles County voters approved a bill that mandates the use of condoms in all porn video shoots. The Associated Press reports today that local applications for porn filming permits dropped by more than 90% last year. But that doesn't mean that condom-less filming isn't still taking place.

So where are those hundreds of films available for instant download on the Internet coming from? Many are still coming from right here, say industry officials, acknowledging that when Los Angeles County voters cracked down on filmmakers in November 2012 with an ordinance requiring that actors use condoms, quite a few filmmakers went underground. "A lot are simply shooting in out-of-the-way places where they won't be caught," says Mark Kernes, senior editor at Adult Video News, which tracks industry trends. "Normally it's in people's homes who are willing to rent them out for a day. Sometimes it's out in the woods. There are vacation cabins far away from anything that you can shoot a movie at."

Others have traveled outside of Los Angeles County, either to neighboring counties or sometimes even out of state. Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, an industry advocacy group, said she knows of a handful that have moved to Las Vegas, although none want to be mentioned by name for fear of bringing condom activists after them. Although a few porn producers do require that actors use condoms, the majority do not, saying fans have made it clear they don't want to see them. Wherever the filmmakers are working now, only 20 have applied for permits so far this year, according to Film LA, which issues them. Last year 40 adult filmmakers took out permits, compared with 485 in 2012, the last year before the ordinance took effect.

RELATED: The Los Angeles County ordinance was spearheaded by the combative and controversial AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Today the AHF issued a press release declaring that it has filed an OSHA complaint against a San Francisco-based porn company that is filming in Nevada.

“Under the guise of his various Kink and Kink.com, adult film businesses and brands, owner Peter Acworth, thinks he and his companies can simply ignore the Federal OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard with regard to required condom use in his adult film productions shot in Nevada. This new complaint in Nevada is based on the simple fact that they cannot hide from federal law there, or anywhere in the U.S.,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “When we first proposed the Los Angeles City bill, the industry said they’d film in other L.A. cities. When we proposed Measure B for L.A. County, the industry said they’d film in other counties. And when we proposed AB 1576, the industry said they’d film outside of California. Here, Mr. Acworth will no doubt find out that both Nevada and Federal OSHA statutes apply as well. Are workers in Nevada any less entitled to protection from harm than those in California?”

ALSO RELATED: This week the AHF sued the city of San Francisco for blocking its plans to open a pharmacy in the Castro. According to the AHF, local AIDS activists are behind the denial because they are furious with the AHF for opposing the use of Truvada as a daily HIV preventive.

"At the behest of San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, The City rammed through, at lightning speed, an interim zoning law specifically targeting AIDS Healthcare Foundation," claimed Laura Boudreau, chief of operations for AHF. "The clear and sole purpose of that action was to discourage the organization from relocating and opening a nonprofit safety-net clinic and pharmacy in the Castro." But City Attorney spokesman Matt Dorsey called the civil rights violation charge "absurd." "AHF is asking the court to find a constitutional right to build whatever it wants wherever it wants, and that's just not something courts have allowed," Dorsey said.

Boudreau claims the motivation for The City's actions came from the foundation's position on PrEP -- an HIV treatment drug which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others have advocated for as a preventative tool, but which the group opposes as a widespread HIV prevention tool, arguing its efficacy is debatable. While a local HIV activist said the AHF's position on HIV prevention is not popular among many in San Francisco, he and Wiener point out that the main issue with the group, which has 33 locations nationwide, is that it operates a chain. The city's formula retail rules define chain stores as any with 11 or more locations. "AHF tried to game our formula retail law by tweaking its name and then claiming it wasn't actually formula retail," Wiener said. "Under AHF's approach, any chain store could come into San Francisco, tweak its name, and claim that it isn't formula retail."

Viral Video Of The Day

LOS ANGELES: Grammy Museum To Open Exhibit Honoring Donna Summer

Via the Randy Report:

Fans of classic 70s and 80s pop/rock/dance music - mark your calendars! On July 2, 2014, The GRAMMY Museum will unveil its latest temporary exhibition, Donna Summer: Four Seasons of Love. Located on the Museum’s fourth floor, the exhibition will offer visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic career of 5-time Grammy Award-winner Donna Summer. This will be the first exhibition highlighting the career of the legendary “Queen of Disco.” “Donna Summer galvanized a diverse group of music fans and she was able to give credibility to a genre of music that had many skeptics,” said GRAMMY Museum executive director Bob Santelli. “We are honored to tell her story and help demonstrate why Donna Summer is not only the undisputed ‘Queen of Disco,’” but also one of the most successful female artists of all time.”

The show runs through the spring of 2015. More details.

RELATED: In other Donna Summer news, there's a Facebook group advocating that a memorial to Summer be built in her birthplace of Boston. On July 18th the city of Boston will present "The Donna Summer Memorial Roller Disco Party" on City Hall Plaza. Bring your own skates or rent them at City Hall.

De Blasio Pays Off On Hockey Bet

Gloria Allred At Los Angeles Pride

Famed/notorious attorney Gloria Allred rode in yesterday's Los Angeles Pride parade bearing a purposely misspelled sign which references a lawsuit she filed on Friday.

A lawsuit filed Friday against the Los Angeles Unified School District by a former student alleges administrators failed to intervene when he was bullied and taunted for months last year about his sexuality. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges sexual orientation discrimination, harassment based on sexual orientation and negligence. James Anthony Scott, identified as Shear, is "seeking damages according to proof at trial," according to a statement from his attorney, Gloria Allred. Shear was a 15-year-old sophomore at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Van Nuys when he witnessed an autistic student being harassed by peers, according to the suit. Shear alerted administrators to the situation, the suit says, and then the bullies turned on him.From August to December, the lawsuit claims Shear was subjected to slurs about his sexual orientation and was pushed in a school hallway.

Among the abuses that the student claims he suffered was a note placed in his locker which read "Get out fagot or die." It's not clear why Allred's sign appears to be in the shape of a maple leaf. (Photo credit: Matt Baume)

LOS ANGELES: Stars And Activists Protest Brunei's Brutal Sharia Laws

The top clip features a rousing speech by Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center CEO Lori Jean.

LA Pride Adds Roller Disco

Frontiers Magazine gushes:

Even more than securing top-notch talent for its weekend festivities, teaming up with the likes of L.A. nightlife impresarios Luke Nero and Andrés Rigal could be Pride's smartest move to date. Christopher Street West, the organization responsible for putting on L.A. Pride each summer, has announced that the duo will be producing this year's ultimate VIP experience: Thunder Ground, an outdoor pop-up roller rink and disco. This is L.A. Pride's first-ever ticketed VIP experience, and if the turnout is anything like the two nightclub kingpins are able to secure for popular party Plastic Fantastic (Saturdays at Eleven in West Hollywood) or the now-defunct but still-infamous lot party Summertramp, it's bound to be a huge hit.

Roller disco + booze? Should be interesting.

HomoQuotable - John Aravosis

"It was only a few weeks ago that America was lecturing the gay community about its intolerance for intolerance, for objecting to a bigot (in fact, an anti-gay activist, Brendan Eich) running a major American corporation (in this case, the Mozilla Foundation). Republicans, including gay conservatives, were particularly upset that anyone would judge a man’s job performance, especially the man running a company, by his personal animus towards minorities, many of whom would be his own employees. So long as he didn’t discriminate against his own employees, he was free to be a bigot, they told us. Now, they’re all eating crow. Today, even conservatives are saying (on CNN) that the NBA simply must investigate whether the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, Donald Sterling, made racist remarks to his girlfriend, who is black and Mexican. Apparently, Donald Sterling made the mistake of buying a basketball team rather than taking over a high-tech company." - John Aravosis, writing for AmericaBlog.

LGBT Donor Conference Moved From Hotel Owned By Brunei Over Stoning Law

The Gill Action Fund has moved a conference planned for next month out of the tony Beverly Hills Hotel over Brunei's institution of death by stoning for homosexuality. The hotel is owned by the sultan of Brunei. The Washington Blade reports:

Kirk Fordham, executive director of Gill Action, informed the Blade that a new venue would be chosen in the aftermath of the announcement from the sultan of Brunei. “In light of the horrific anti-gay policy approved by the Government of Brunei, Gill Action made the decision earlier today to relocate its conference from the Beverly Hills Hotel to another property,” Fordham said. “We are seeking a return of all deposits.“ Even before the latest policy announcement, Brunei had a law on the books unfavorable to gay people. Homosexual acts were punishable with up to 10 years in prison. LGBT activists have previously targeted the Beverly Hills Hotel for its connections to Brunei and its anti-gay policy. Last year, the group Dump the Beverly Hills Hotel posted a quirky online video where individuals announced they were “breaking up” with the hotel unless its owners changed their homophobic ways. Fordham didn’t immediately respond to a follow-up email asking why the Beverly Hills Hotel was chosen for OutGiving in the first place given the anti-gay policies of Brunei prior to the latest announcement and the criticism to which the hotel has been subjected.

The sultan owns ten luxury hotels around the world. The only other US location is the Hotel Bel-Air, also in Los Angeles.

RELATED: On Tuesday the United Nations denounced Brunei for the latest Sharia laws, which are due to go into effect next week.

LOS ANGELES: Vaccinations Urged For Gay Men After Three Meningitis Deaths

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health today urged that gay and bisexual men be vaccinated for meningitis. Eight cases of meningitis have been reported in the Los Angeles area since the start of the year and there have been three deaths.

All men who have sex with men, whether or not they identify as gay or bisexual and "regardless of HIV status, who regularly have close or intimate contact with multiple partners, or who seek partners through the use of digital applications, particularly those who share cigarettes, marijuana or use illegal drugs, should visit their health provider to be vaccinated against invasive meningococcal disease," department director Dr. Jonathan Fielding said in a statement. The county will provide free vaccinations for patients without health insurance, starting on April 3, he added. Those interested can call 211 or visit the department's website to get a listing of provider clinics.

Investigators have found "commonalities" in four of the latest cases. This outbreak cluster apparently includes the three fatalities.

The department said that in contrast to investigations of illnesses in 2012 and 2013, "commonalities were found" among the four cases in men who have sex with men this year: Three lived or socialized in the West Hollywood and North Hollywood areas and three were 27-28 years of age. The fourth meningitis patient was 50 years old, the department reported. Invasive meningococcal disease stems from a rare bacterial infection that can spread to the blood, brain or spinal cord and can affect the entire body -- sometimes causing death. It is spread by close exposure to sneezing or coughing or direct contact with saliva or nose mucus -- though it's less contagious than influenza, the health department said.

From the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center:

“Invasive meningococcal disease is very serious and potentially deadly,” says Center Medical Director Dr. Robert Bolan. “We’re concerned there have been four reported cases among gay and bisexual men in just the first three months of this year and that the county is reporting commonalities among some of the cases. Though it’s important to note that IMD is not spread by casual contact, such as being in the same room with someone who may be infected, I encourage gay and bisexual men—regardless of their HIV status, but especially those who are HIV-positive—to get vaccinated. It’s possible that people who are HIV-positive, and gay men in general, may be at greater risk of infection.”

Three of the eight reported Los Angeles area cases have occurred in HIV+ men. Reports do not say whether any of those three cases are among the fatalities.

RELATED: Beginning in the fall of 2012, New York City experienced an outbreak of meningitis that included cases among gay and bisexual men. At least seven deaths resulted. City and state departments of public health reacted aggressively, launching vaccination campaigns that were praised by local activists. Those vaccination campaigns were declared a success in August 2013 following six months of no new reported cases, but not before the likes of World Net Daily, David Barton, and Scott Lively had declared that God was using meningitis to punish gay men.