Arts & Entertainment
Tony Perkins calls lesbian-themed musical ‘sexual propaganda’
Family Research Council president calls musical
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
President of Family Research Council Tony Perkins condemned U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power for taking U.N. Ambassadors to see Broadway musical “Fun Home.”
According to LGBTQ Nation, last week Powers took 15 U.N. Ambassadors, from Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Uruguay and Vietnam among them, to see the lesbian-themed show in New York City, causing Perkins to pen an outraged letter in response. “Fun Home” is the musical adaption of Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel about discovering her sexual orientation as a child.
“The State Department already has an official LGBT envoy — it doesn’t need two! Tell that to Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., who is determined to join the administration’s goodwill tour for homosexuality,” Perkins wrote. “Like Secretary John Kerry, who seems oblivious to any problem not preceded by the letters L-G-B-T, Power is adding to the president’s embarrassing diplomatic legacy by trying to export Obama’s sexual extremism to a world preoccupied by far more important issues.”
“It was a stunning display of political tone-deafness, considering the real crises happening right now on the real world stage. Unfortunately, as far as this president is concerned, the most urgent message America can send to the international community right now is “that protecting the rights of LGBT people will remain a key foreign policy priority of the United States.” And its only priority, seemingly,” Perkins continued in his letter.
“Where is this same boldness when it comes to the real suffering of Middle East Christians? Apparently, Power and others think world leaders need to be educated on the sexual proclivities of a few rather than the genocide of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children,” the letter concluded.
Baltimore
This John Waters interview has been edited for readability — but perhaps not human decency
Pope of Trash dishes on Trump, plane etiquette, last meal, and more
By WESLEY CASE | At 80 years old, John Waters is still the ideal dinner guest — incisively sharp, quick-witted and funny as hell.
The chic Baltimore native proved it again and again in a recent Zoom interview, calling from his summer home in Provincetown, Mass.
The occasion was the Blu-ray releases of two of his movies — the 1977 dark comedy “Desperate Living” and his enduring 1988 musical “Hairspray” — on June 23 by the Criterion Collection, which publishes restorations of films it deems culturally important. The Criterion stamp of approval has become the gold standard among cinephiles.
“It’s like getting an award,” said Waters, who wrote and directed both films.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
The Washington Blade held the seventh annual Pride on the Pier at The Wharf DC on Saturday, June 13.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
The 2026 Lost River Pride Festival was held on the scenic grounds of the Lost River Farmers Market in Lost City, W.Va. on Saturday, June 13. Headliner Tom Goss performed at the festival and gave a second performance at the nearby Guesthouse Lost River.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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