Thank you for publishing the positive story, "Rehoboth celebrates Pride Month," in the June 4 edition. I was fortunate to be present during the Pride flag-raising and ribbon-cutting of the two rainbow crosswalks. That Saturday morning certainly made be proud to be a coastal Delawarean!
The events also brought up two memories for me. The first: Last summer, my spouse and I got a message from a friend in Arkansas – two friends of his were looking at places to retire and were considering Rehoboth Beach. They wanted to know if they could have our contact information so we could meet and talk about Rehoboth Beach as a good retirement community for all, including LGBTQ folks. We agreed and made arrangements to meet them at Aqua on a weeknight at 5 p.m. They arrived before us, and when we sat down, one of the Arkansas visitors asked, "Are there no gay bars in Rehoboth Beach?” I laughed and responded, "You're sitting in one!" As I looked around, I noticed that we were probably the only table with gay folks – all the other tables had couples and singles who appeared to be straight (based on my sometimes-right gaydar). Reflecting on that, I can rejoice in the fact that we are a welcoming community, with room for all, and it's not uncommon for straight folks to come to our gay-owned and -frequented businesses, and for LGBTQ folks to go wherever we want in Rehoboth Beach – nobody cares, no big deal.
Contrast that with my second memory: In 1987, Washington, D.C., friends and I rented a house on Hickman Street. One evening, we were out (at the Renegade, of course!) and when we returned, we found a note written on a paper towel, taped to the door. The note read: "Gays, AIDS and Blacks, get out of Rehoboth." A tad frightening! I'm happy to say that experiences like my first memory are far more frequent than the latter. My hope is that Rehoboth Beach and our surrounding communities remain places with room for all and the number of haters becomes fewer.
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