This is a letter sent to HRC by Peter Schott:
I read with a great deal of interest your 2016 Municipal Equality Index report which ranked Rehoboth Beach at a 62. This was a disappointing figure and I think it fails to consider several factors.
I do not believe smaller jurisdictions can be rated the same way as larger cities because as a smaller city we start with fewer financial resources and with a smaller population there are fewer people who need specialized services. What the report does not take into account is that Rehoboth Beach has had an active and vibrant LGBT community center (CAMP Rehoboth) for over a quarter of a century. That center provides annual sensitivity training to the police force. The report fails to take into account that the chief of police works directly with the community center and that the City Manager is an out lesbian. Despite only having seven members on our City Commission (City Council) we have consistently for a dozen years had openly gay members, even as many as two at a time.
I think that future reports might want to distinguish between larger cities and smaller ones, because otherwise cities such as Rehoboth Beach, which regularly gets ranked as one of the friendliest gay and lesbian destinations by travel services, will suffer.
Peter Schott
Rehoboth Beach, DE