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 D.C. Council on June 9 gave its first round of approval to an amendment to the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget that calls for increasing the number and size of funding grants that the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs provides for local organizations providing services for the LGBTQ community.

The amendment, titled the “LGBTQ Community Grant Amendment Act of 2026,” was introduced by D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member. 

The amendment calls for the LGBTQ Affairs office to issue a $980,000 grant in fiscal year 2027 to a private, nonprofit organization in partnership with the office “for the purpose of supporting programs that promote the welfare of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community.”

The organization would also initiate its own fundraising effort to expand the amount of funds beyond the amount the office would provide, enabling it to provide larger grants to a greater number of local LGBTQ organizations.

Among other things, the amendment says the organization chosen for this new role should have a “proven track record of success in grant making and fundraising” and agree to undergo an annual audit and submit quarterly reports to the office on its use of the funds it receives. 

Under its rules for approving legislation, the Council must hold the second vote on the budget bill with the Parker amendment before it is sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser for her signature. It must then go to Congress for a congressional review that does not require approval, but could result in a vote to disapprove the measure, an action Congress usually does not take.

In a June 12 statement, the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition called the D.C. Council’s initial approval of the Parker amendment, “a historic measure that establishes the District’s most sustainable model for a vehicle for investing in LGBTQ communities.” 

The statement adds, “The legislation arrives at a critical moment, as LGBTQ-serving organizations face unprecedented uncertainty. Growing demand for services is colliding with shrinking resources, federal attacks on LGBTQ programs, and ongoing threats to local funding streams.”

It says the new program that the Parker amendment would create, if it reaches final approval, “creates a durable mechanism to protect and expand investments in the organizations that thousands of District residents rely upon every day.”

A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said he was looking into the mayor’s position on the Parker amendment but didn’t immediately get back with a response. 

A German advocacy group on the eve of the 2026 World Cup sharply criticized the Trump-Vance administration over its anti-LGBTQ policies.

The World Cup will take place in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico through July 19. The tournament began on Thursday in Mexico City with Mexico beating South Africa 2-0.

“In the USA, democracy is being gradually dismantled,” said Julia Monro of Federation Queer Diversity, a German LGBTQ and intersex rights group known by the acronym LSVD, in a statement released on Wednesday. “In particular, the human rights of trans, intersex, and nonbinary individuals, as well as other queer people, are facing massive attacks and political instrumentalization by the Trump administration.”

The LSVD statement notes sports “has a special responsibility in this situation because it conveys values ​​worldwide that extend beyond the playing field: fairness, respect, and inclusion.”

“This must apply to everyone, including trans* and nonbinary people,” says LSVD. “Those who love sport must also protect those who can only experience it under difficult circumstances.”

“The public visibility of queer people is being pushed back, companies and organizations with diversity strategies are being pressured, and laws for trans*, intersex, and nonbinary people are being tightened,” added the group. “This is not a fringe issue, but directly affects everyday life, mobility, and safety. The way minority rights are treated is a measure of the state of a democratic society. Inhumane measures must not be normalized. The international community must not remain silent as attention on the host country, the USA, increases. The Trump administration could exploit this media platform for further inhumane purposes, in order to transfer its homophobic agenda to other countries.”

LSVD also stressed the “safety of trans* and nonbinary soccer fans is currently not guaranteed in the USA.”

“We advise all queer fans to inform themselves carefully beforehand and to take precautions for their safety,” it said.

The Council for Global Equality is one of the more than 100 organizations that issued a travel advisory for the U.S. ahead of the World Cup.

LSVD in its statement pointed out the German government in 2025 issued a travel advisory for trans and nonbinary people who are planning to visit the U.S. The warning specifically noted President Donald Trump’s executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.

InterPride, the organization that coordinates WorldPride events, issued a travel advisory for trans and nonbinary people who planned to travel to the U.S. for WorldPride that took place last summer in D.C.

“Due to an executive order issued by the U.S. president on Jan. 20, all travelers must select either ‘male’ or ‘female’ when applying for entry or visas. The gender listed at birth will be considered valid,” read the InterPride advisory. “If your passport has ‘X’ as a gender marker or differs from your birth-assigned gender, we strongly recommend contacting the U.S. diplomatic mission before traveling to confirm entry requirements.”

LSVD notes the German government reiterated its 2025 travel advisory ahead of the World Cup.

“Anyone traveling with a different gender entry, with an ‘X’ marker in their passport, or who does not conform to the state’s expectations during checks, must expect problems in the USA,” said LSVD.