Letters from Camp Rehoboth

The Way I See It

by Steve Elkins, Editor

In case you’re wondering about the "Sweet 16" cake pictured on the cover of this issue of Letters (courtesy of The Bake Shoppe on Rehoboth Avenue, I should say), it is more than just another Valentine’s Day greeting and represents the fact that we are celebrating the 16th birthday of CAMP Rehoboth—and the 16th season of publishing this magazine, as well. Over the years we have witnessed many changes in our community, both in the physical structure of our town and in the attitudes of its citizens. During that time we have seen CAMP Rehoboth become an integral part of the community and our connections reach out in many different directions. I suppose that the age of 16 is called "sweet" because it balances the innocence of childhood with a growing maturity and awareness of what it means to be an adult. In a way that perfectly describes CAMP Rehoboth in 2006. Perhaps the youthful innocence and exuberance that got it started in the first place is fading, but it is being replaced by experience and both the confidence and humility that comes from acquiring that experience. In short, CAMP Rehoboth is growing up, let’s make this year a "sweet" celebration to remember.

One of the great community connections that I mentioned a moment ago, is with the Rehoboth Beach Film Society (producers of the spectacular annual Rehoboth Beach Film Festival every November). On the weekend of February 17-19, CAMP Rehoboth and RBFS will continue the bi-annual series Another Take which features films with GLBT themes—call it a mini-gay film festival. Another Take will feature three films (Happy Endings on Friday, Bollywood and Vine on Saturday, and All Over The Guy on Sunday), and all three films will be shown in the upstairs screening room at the Movies at Midway during President’s weekend. Tickets are $5 per screening with limited seating. For reservations, call the Rehoboth Beach Film Society, 302-645-9095, or CAMP Rehoboth at 302-227-5620. For more information, see page 8.

Of special interest to the women in our community, plans for the sixth annual CAMP Rehoboth Women’s Weekend are well under way thanks to this year’s co-chairs Barb Fishel and Marti Austin and the entertainment team of Ellen Feinberg and Lesley Rogan. Set for the weekend of April 14-16, the event will include the Women’s Conference, concerts by Vickie Shaw and Holly Near, Sunday Brunch, parties, and even a golf outing. Brochures with a complete listings of events and conference workshops will be available around the first of March. Call the CAMP Rehoboth office for information about vendor participation and conference sponsorships, or to make reservations. See page 75 for more information.

As we work on this issue, word has arrived that the teenager wanted in the hatchet/gun attack on the patrons of the Massachusetts nightclub Puzzles has died in Arkansas after killing a police officer and the woman accompanying him. By the end of the week when this issue hits the stands, I’m sure that story will be old news, already forgotten by most people. I bring it up here because it reminds us again that we need to pass federal hate crime legislation that includes sexual orientation. In 2005 the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would have added sexual orientation to the existing list of those covered in hate crime legislation, but it did not make it through the Senate. Currently, only 32 states—including Delaware—have hate crime laws that include sexual orientation. Last week I heard from someone who had found a church home at Epworth United Methodist Church on Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth (a church well known in the community for welcoming GLBT members). She described another church where the minister tried to put the blame for the terrorist attack on 9/11 on the "gays." I know nothing about the background of the teenager killed in Arkansas, but I have to believe that the seed of his hatred was nourished by extreme attitudes like this. Gay bashing often begins in what should be the most unlikely of places.

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 16, No. 1 February 10, 2006