LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
The Way I See It |
by Steve Elkins, Editor |
I must say, I'm getting tired of having to write about the dreary, wet weatherso I won't! Remember Peter Pan? He taught Wendy, John, and Michael Darling to fly by thinking "lovely thoughts." This is the big July 4th issue of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth, and that means it's time for us all to be thinking lovely thoughts of sun, fun, fireworks...and Love. This year's Love committee, under the direction of Bill Alldredge, has a whole lotta lovely thoughts for us to think about and to keep us all occupied over the holiday weekend. From the Love on the Beach Tent Party and the Love Groove Retro Dance with Martha Wash, to the Ultimate Love Main Event, the weekend is sure to be a star-spangled, red, white, and love extravaganza. Tickets and VIP passes are going fast, so make your reservations now. To make all the projects of CAMP Rehoboth fly takes the love and dedication of countless volunteers performing a wide range of taskssome more bizarre than others. None of us can predict, for example, what Murray will have his decor volunteers doing to get ready for a big eventjust ask Joe Mirabella how many buttons he had to sew in order to hang the spandex for last year's Sundance! Most of our volunteer activities are a little less exciting, but very much appreciated. Last weekend, Harvey Sharpe helped Murray hang Rod Cook's watercolors at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center, Joan Glass and John Speicher served as hosts for the same Destination Art event, Mark Aguirre and Wayne Gleason picked up the Beach Books in DCwhere Greg Albright and Wes Combs had them printedand drove them to Rehoboth, where Tom Minnuto delivered them to the beach. Every event, every project, has a chain of volunteers making it happen. That's love, too. As we go to press on this issue of Letters, there seems to be an air of guarded optimism in the Delaware GLBT community about the revival of HB 99. Day by day, the situation seems to change, however, and I'm never quite sure if I'm hearing rumor, exaggeration, or fact. HB 99 is, of course, the state legislature's bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, public accommodation, and insurance. To the local GLBT community its passage is of great importance and would be a significant victory. In a recent interview that I participated in for WBOC-TV, the reporter tried to connect Canada's recognition of same sex marriage with the passage of HB 99. Most of what I said ended on the cutting room floorprobably because I disagreed with the reporters premisebut the gist of it was that a marriage law in Canada shouldn't distract us from our own fight at home. HB 99 is an equal rights measure to protect everyone regardless of their sexual orientation, and a big step toward achieving an equal place in our society for gay and lesbian people. Marriage is another issue, and one that we in the United States may not win anytime soon. Over the years, the CAMP Rehoboth courtyard has been a Mecca for gays and lesbiansand their dogs. We have many regular visitors whose pets know exactly where the dog goodie jar is located. Lately, however, we've seen more and more gay and lesbian couples with childrensome creatively conceived, and some adopted. Recently, I overheard someone buying a ticket for Love. When asked if he wanted the deluxe VIP pass to all eight Love events, he said no because of the difficulty in finding a baby sitter. "We'll just put him in the Love day care," Kathy Weir joked as he paid for his ticket. Well, we're not there yet, I suppose, but "the times they are a changing." Who knows? Maybe someday we'll actually need a kiddie CAMPground! Happy Fourth of July! Have a safe and happy holiday. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 13, No. 8, June 27, 2003 |