Laverne Cox Poses As Statue Of Liberty For Latest Issue Of Entertainment Weekly

(Tipped by JMG reader TJ)

Transgender Man Leads Contest To Appear On Cover Of Men's Health Magazine

Via USA Today:

A transgender man is leading in popular votes for the 2015 Men's Health cover contest. Aydian Dowling, a video blogger, activist and the creator of a clothing line called Point 5cc, has more than 46,000 votes as of Monday afternoon. If he wins the contest, which is open for entries until June 21, his photo will appear on the cover of the magazine's November issue. "I maintain a healthy lifestyle by making sure my life is in a balance," Dowling wrote on his contest entry post. "As a Transgender Male, having a healthy body and mind is my ultimate goal to find peace within my soul."

Reader votes count for only 10% of the final ranking, which includes a number of other criteria. Earlier this year a photo of Dowling recreating a famous pose by rocker Adam Levine was widely circulated on social media.  (Tipped by JMG reader Cricket)

Meet The Bears Of Sweet Paul

The foodies among you may already be familiar with Sweet Paul, which began years ago as Paul Lowe's personal cooking blog and has since grown to become a wildly popular print and online magazine. Lowe (above left, also known as "the gay Martha Stewart") does the kitchen work while the business side of the enterprise is handled by "the other Paul" - my longtime pal Paul Vitale. The fifth anniversary issue of Sweet Paul launches next week and I'm just the worst friend ever not to have mentioned them before now. And hey, they've even put out a well-received cookbook, Sweet Paul: Eat & Make. Join their 70,000 fans on Facebook.

Magazine Angers Trans Advocates With Photoshopped Image Of Bruce Jenner

InTouch has angered transgender advocates with a photoshopped cover image of Bruce Jenner.

BuzzFeed reports that the magazine appears to have superimposed Jenner’s face on that of British actress Stephanie Beacham, lipstick and all. Hollywood Life, an entertainment blog, also quotes an “insider” who claims that Jenner plans to come out as a transgender woman in a future issue of The Advocate. One problem: The Advocate editor says that’s not true. "I’m astounded that Bonnie Fuller’s Hollywood Life would claim to have ‘all the details’ on Bruce Jenner’s ‘big magazine plans’ because their story is a total fabrication — like InTouch’s distressing Photoshopped cover,” said Matthew Breen, editor in chief of The Advocate on the magazine’s website. Mara Kiesling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told The Advocate on Wednesday the fact “that anybody is still trying to 'shock' people about transgender people is really sad.”

TMZ claims that Jenner's ex-wife is saying, "It's just mean to do whether or not it's true."

FRANCE: Magazine Ordered To Pay €20K For Outing Leader Of Neo-Nazi Party

France's Closer Magazine has been ordered to pay €20K for invading the privacy of a neo-Nazi party leader when it outed him as gay. Via Pink News:

Florian Philippot is the deputy leader of the French Front National – which was allied with the British National Party, and has been accused of fostering homophobic violence by aligning itself with aggressive anti-equal marriage factions and violent groups. Earlier this month, Closer published four pages of photos taken in Vienna of Mr Philippot with a television journalist presented as his boyfriend whose face was blurred out. AFP reports Gregoire Lafarge, Mr Philippot’s lawyer, had argued in court that the magazine had not acted in the public interest but purely to make money. “Mr Philippot is admittedly a public figure but he is not a celebrity and has always explained that sexuality is an intimate affair,” he said. “To ‘out’ (someone) is to stigmatise. After sexuality, what will we throw out to the public – religion, health?” added Mr Lafarge, who had initially asked for 50,000 euros in damages.

The magazine has also been ordered to publish the verdict on its front page.

Michael Sam Is A GQ Man Of The Year

Via the Washington Post:

This fall, GQ magazine found room for an athlete on its annual list of celebrities who have left a mark on pop culture. This isn’t any athlete, though. It’s Michael Sam, the first openly gay player taken in the NFL draft last spring. Sam joins “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Chris Pratt, comedian Dave Chappelle, actors Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley of “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Foxcatcher” star Steve Carell. The magazine revealed all six covers Monday, with a story on each honoree being rolled out daily this week. Sam was drafted by St. Louis Rams and he quickly crossed from a sports story into a cultural one when he kissed his partner in celebration.

Sam was cut by the Dallas Cowboys last month and remains unsigned.

CANADA: Human Rights Complaint Filed After Magazine Publishes Letter From Hate Group Leader Matt Barber

A humans rights complaint has been filed against the Newfoundland Herald after it published an anti-gay screed titled The Coming Christian Revolt from hate group leader Matt Barber.

Western Pride NL member Kyle Curlew, who initiated filing the complaint, said his "jaw dropped" when he first saw the two-page letter.​ "I couldn't even believe that it was published in the Herald. It was a rallying call for people to stand against LGBT rights. Essentially, hate propaganda," Curlew told CBC. Curlew said after reading the letter, he decided to take the matter to police. "We filed a human rights complaint under C-46, Section 19, which is 'propaganda and the incitement of hate towards an identifiable group.' So we are hoping to press charges." Curlew said he feels the long-time publication stepped a little too far outside its role in local media. "Letters to the Editor in a Newfoundland and Labrador magazine should, for one, include letters from our community here on this island. Not someone who is completely removed from our politics in the [United] States. The other thing, The Newfoundland Herald is a television guide, not a political magazine or a religious magazine. I don't think that kind of discourse belongs in a television guide."

The magazine says that Barber's letter spawned more responses that any others in the title's history. The managing editor has promised to publish some of those reactions in its next issue. Here's how Barber's piece begins:

From behind a smoking sniper rifle high atop his ivory tower peers the secular “progressive.” He surveys his many victims, strewn across the American landscape below and mockingly sneers, “War on Christianity? What war on Christianity?” He then resumes shooting, all the while insisting that those uncooperative Christians who scatter for cover behind the word of God and the U.S. Constitution somehow suffer from a “persecution complex” (the baker, the photographer, the florist, the innkeeper, the Christian school administrator, etc.). Let’s see if we can make this abundantly clear. Christians, true Christians – regenerate, Bible-believing Christians who strive their level best to maintain fidelity to the word of God and honor His commands – will not, indeed cannot, participate in, approve of, facilitate or encourage certain behaviors deemed by the Holy Scriptures to be immoral or sinful. This is both our constitutionally affirmed human right and our Christian duty.

(Tipped by JMG reader David)

Tweet Of The Day - Chris Meloni

Newsweek Owner: Gayness Can Be Cured

Last year IBT Media co-owner Johnathan Davis and his business partner bought Newsweek from the Daily Beast. Earlier this month the 80-year old title returned to print with an article that has been met with controversy as its main subject denies being "the face of Bitcoin," as Newsweek's cover story about the virtual currency declared. In fact, the man claims to have never even heard of Bitcoin until a reporter contacted him. But the real story, for us here, is the revelation that Davis, an evangelical with ties to a fringe pastor, apparently believes that homosexuality can be cured.

Via the Guardian:

Davis said in an interview that their work and faith were separate, and that he wanted “the journalism to speak for itself” both at their new magazine and at the International Business Times, a news website that was IBT Media’s flagship title until it bought Newsweek. Similarly, he dismissed the notion that readers should be troubled by the little-known fact that he has personally endorsed the view, espoused by the so-called “ex-gay” movement, that gay people may have developed their sexuality as a result of being sexually abused as children, and can be cured by therapy to make them heterosexual. In a Facebook post in February 2013, Davis described as "shockingly accurate" an op-ed article written by Christopher Doyle, the director of the International Healing Foundation (IHF), which works to convert gay people. Davis said it “cuts like a hot knife through a buttery block of lies”.

Christopher Doyle, of course, is the well-known "ex-gay" crackpot and NARTH backer that has been featured on JMG many times over the years. In just one of his many outrageous claims, earlier this year Doyle declared that American gay activists are to blame for the religion-motivated murders of gay men in Africa. The Guardian asked Davis about that Facebook post:

When asked if he believed that gay people could be cured, Davis said: “Whether I do or not, I’m not sure how that has any bearing on my capacity here as the founder of the company. I’m not sure how it’s relevant. People believe all sorts of weird things. But from a professional capacity, it’s unrelated.” The post was then removed from his Facebook page.

After the Guardian story was published, staffers at IBT Media received the below statement from Davis.

I want to reiterate to all of you that our company, myself included, has and always will respect diversity in our workplace. This is reflected not only in our daily work but also in our hiring and personnel practices. Our team members are hired and retained based solely on their ability to perform the task. We welcome and support a diverse range of opinions and values. We believe this diversity is critical to success as a world-class journalism organization, and also creates a richer and more productive culture and environment for all of us.

Davis and his wife have fringe evangelical entanglements that go far beyond an endorsement of Christopher Doyle. Hit the first link and read the Guardian's excellent story.

Franco & Rogen Spoof Vogue Cover

Via Gothamist:

They had to do it. After Kim Kardashian and Kanye West appeared on the current issue of Vogue, backlash has come from everyone from Sarah Michelle Gellar to Buzzfeed, USA Today reports. But Seth Rogen and James Franco went a step further, reenacting the cheesy cover shot with their own tender rendition that Franco tweeted out.

Last year Franco and Rogen also spoofed a Kanye West music video that features Kardashian.

WI Grocer Covers Gay Wedding Mag

The details:

The cover of Milwaukee Magazine’s March issue, with a lesbian couple in wedding gowns, has been “censored” by Sendik’s Fine Foods in Brookfield, Wis. “This apparently happened after a customer complained,” says Milwaukee Magazine assistant editor Abby Callard. “The reader who emailed us [about the hidden cover] asked a clerk and was told the owners deemed it ‘inappropriate.’ The circulation manager was also told the store has a policy that if one person complains about a magazine cover, they give it the black-board treatment.”

The magazine has blogged about the story as well. (Tipped by JMG reader Claudia)

Newsweek To Return To Print

Newsweek stopped producing print copies over a year ago, but it's coming back.

The magazine expects to begin a 64-page weekly edition in January or February, said Jim Impoco, Newsweek’s editor in chief. Mr. Impoco said in an interview that Newsweek would depend more heavily on subscribers than advertisers to pay its bills — and that readers would pay more than in the past. “It’s going to be a more subscription-based model, closer to what The Economist is compared to what Time magazine is,” Mr. Impoco said. “We see it as a premium product, a boutique product.” Newsweek’s return to print is a positive sign for a magazine that struggled mightily in the digital age. At its height in 1991, the magazine had 3.3 million readers. In 2010, Newsweek’s owner, The Washington Post, sold it to the billionaire investor Sidney Harman for $1. Mr. Harman, who also assumed $40 million in liabilities, then merged it with The Daily Beast, the website owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp.

Four New Covers By Ebony

The Week's Bloomberg Businessweek

The reaction to this week's cover is mixed:

A story about, ahem, underperforming hedge funds isn't provocative or controversial, but the content could be overshadowed by the cover, writes The Atlantic Wire's Alexander Nazaryan. "At what point do risque covers actually undermine the reporting they are supposedly advertising?" Nazaryan asks. "And is the purported audience of Businessweek going to be attracted by such tactics? It's a fine line that Businessweek is walking." The magazine, however, isn't backing away from its decision. It even published a story on the evolution of its cover featuring a variety of disillusioned, drooping hedge fund managers.

New Yorker: Happy Mothers' Day

Jeremy Hooper points out the apostrophe placement in the New Yorker's latest cover story by Chris Ware. An excerpt:

Now that the numbers are in on same-sex marriage, many Republicans are falling like dominos all over themselves to express their support for something that only a few months ago they steadfastly claimed to stand against. They’ll probably soon claim that this is how they felt all along, and they were simply too hamstrung by politics to be able to say what they really meant. Well, okay. In the spirit of openheartedness and what life is really all about, I’ll go so far as to say that the fear of others may mask some deep-seated desire to understand, and maybe even to love. Because really, what is there to be afraid of?

People's Most Beautiful Woman

Vanity Fair reports on the conflicting opinions about Gwyneth Paltrow.

In the space of eight days, Oscar winner, self-appointed lifestyle guru, and Beyoncé-song consultant Gwyneth Paltrow has catapulted herself from Star magazine’s Most Hated Celebrity (More Hated Than Chris Brown Edition) to People’s Most Beautiful Woman in the World. Granted the two categories are not mutually exclusive—a celebrity can be considered physically beautiful at the same time as she’s perceived to be a spiritual landfill by spiritually questionable Star readers—but still, progress! (In our defense, we argued that it was reprehensible to give Paltrow the former title last week.) Making the victory even sweeter is the fact that Paltrow succeeds her friend Beyoncé as this year’s title-holder.

Papal Secretary "Gorgeous George" Makes Cover Of Italian Vanity Fair

Reuters reports:

Archbishop Georg Ganswein, Pope Benedict's private secretary, who has been dubbed "Gorgeous George" by the Italian media, is now a real-life cover boy. The prelate has landed on the cover of Vanity Fair. The cover on the Italian edition of the magazine shows the 56-year-old archbishop smiling, his blue eyes beaming, above a headline that reads "Father Georg - It's not a sin to be beautiful." The magazine calls Ganswein "The George Clooney of St Peter's" and says it dedicated a cover story to honour his recent promotion to the rank of archbishop and as recognition of his growing power in the Roman Catholic Church. A spokeswoman for the magazine said Ganswein was not interviewed for the article and did not pose for the cover photo, which she said was a close-up of an existing picture.

Newsweek Goes Digital-Only

Not very surprising. From Tina Brown:

We are announcing this morning an important development at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Newsweek will transition to an all-digital format in early 2013. As part of this transition, the last print edition in the United States will be our Dec. 31 issue. Meanwhile, Newsweek will expand its rapidly growing tablet and online presence, as well as its successful global partnerships and events business. Newsweek Global, as the all-digital publication will be named, will be a single, worldwide edition targeted for a highly mobile, opinion-leading audience who want to learn about world events in a sophisticated context. Newsweek Global will be supported by paid subscription and will be available through e-readers for both tablet and the Web, with select content available on The Daily Beast.

National Review Alters DNC Photo

The cover of the latest issue of the right-wing National Review features an altered DNC photo to make it appear that delegates are waving "abortion" signs. In fact, the signs read "Forward." After complaints, the National Review issued a response:

The image used on the cover and the contents page of the October 1, 2012, issue of National Review, in both the print and various digital editions, was altered by National Review. It is not the original photograph as provided by Reuters/Newscom, and therefore should not have been attributed to this organization, nor attributed to the photographer.

Mitt Romney In 1968: Featured On Town & Country Most Eligible Bachelors List

Oh the humble beginning, to be featured in country club favorite Town & Country. He stepped RIGHT on the ping pong ball. It was ghastly! (Via JMG reader Scott)