Anyone over a certain mid-life age (like yours truly), will be familiar with AARP’s magazine. A recent issue of that magazine contained a feature titled "Dream Towns" that listed five great places to retire. Rehoboth Beach made the list. Also featured in the article was a well known Rehoboth couple, Sonja and Hoyte Decker. Hoyte called me the day before I saw the article to say how upset he was about the fact that although he had talked about Rehoboth’s gay community in the interview there was no mention of it in the article. "I even showed them our gay and lesbian community center," he said. Omission, of course, has long been the enemy of the GLBT community. I’m glad that AARP recognized that Rehoboth is a special place to live, but I think that by omitting any mention of our diversity they missed an important reason why we have so much to offer. June is traditionally the time when our community celebrates Gay Pride—D.C.’s Pride event is happening even as I write these words—and the most important part of a Gay Pride celebration is that it makes us visible in a world that more often than not prefers a don’t-ask-don’t-tell-keep-em-in-the-closet kind of attitude. This is a great place to retire, but think of all the AARP readers across the country who would have loved to know the true nature of this unique and wonderful place.

There has been a good bit of press lately on the fact that the AIDS epidemic is 25 years old. This month, as Mubarak Dahir reminds us, is the 25th anniversary of the first published reports of the disease that was to become known as AIDS. Mubarak remembers the early days of the epidemic by focusing on the faces of its early victims—something many of us can do all too easily. The eleventh National HIV Testing Day is June 27, and CAMPsafe (our HIV prevention program) will be offering HIV tests, not just on the 27th but on the days leading up to it as well. Call for an appointment or stop by the Community Center from June 24-27, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.