I’ve been finding it difficult to write about Provincetown. This is, in part, because there already exists so much writing about the place. The territory is already charted. This town […]
Queer “I”
QUEER ‘I’
The Shameless Plan for a ‘New Fire Island’
An idea for a ‘gay paradise’ provokes ire — and unflattering reflections
If you’ve heard of it, then you probably already hate it. You’ve groaned and eye-rolled about it. So has the Provincetown Business Guild: in an Instagram post, the Guild wrote, […]
QUEER ‘I’
At My Doorstep
On reconciling fear and pride
I first saw Provincetown when I was 16. I came for a few hours with my parents on my father’s highlighter-yellow boat, a midlife-crisis acquisition we rarely made use of. […]
QUEER ‘I’
Mapp and Lucia and Me
From coastal England to the shores of Provincetown, some things never change
At first glance, it’s a postcard-perfect seaside town, brimming with music, theater, and art. Look closer, though, and you’ll see that beneath the quaint village veneer lies a hotbed of […]
QUEER ‘I’
Ta-Ta for Now to All That
A writer reflects on returning to Provincetown after a year away
It is a showy move to begin a personal essay with a Virginia Woolf quote, but I am a showy person. So, here is Woolf: “What does it mean, then? […]
QUEER ‘I’
My Own Private Stonewall
52 years later, the spirit of rebellion lives on
I’ve always best expressed my personal take on life through the movies I’ve watched — a quirk of memory rooted in my media-obsessed consciousness. For example, there’s a scene in […]
QUEER ‘I’
Amid a Pandemic, Revisiting ‘Dancer From the Dance’
Andrew Holleran’s romantic rebels realize the cost of freedom
A million years ago, back in 2016, I sat on a panel at a literary conference in New Orleans. At the time, I was working on my second novel, and […]
QUEER ‘I’
PAPA’s Got a Brand New Gig
The Provincetown Theater strikes the right note during sustained crisis
In the summer season of Covid-19, there’s more drama playing out in the Capitol and White House than on the stages of the Outer Cape. That role reversal is not […]
QUEER ‘I’
Reflections on Gay Pride
The first march commemorating Stonewall was 50 years ago
Pride, being one of the seven deadly sins, has good and bad sides to it. It’s like patriotism. To the extent that it means self-love and self-respect, it’s essential and […]
QUEER ‘I’
The Artist as Whistleblower
Larry Kramer left a towering LGBT legacy
To understand why Larry Kramer was a great artist and a singularly influential activist, you have to examine how much the world has changed from plague to plague, HIV to […]
QUEER ‘I’
Signs of Hope for the Methodist Church
The Outer Cape awaits the lifting of homophobic rules
After the General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in February 2019 upheld the so-called Traditional Plan, which affirms the church’s ban on hosting and officiating same-sex marriages and […]
QUEER ‘I’
Buttigieg and Blacks, Homophobia and Racism
Accusers beware: no group is immune to prejudice
For older LGBT people, the rise of Pete Buttigieg to the front ranks of Democratic candidates for president inspires awe. Having grown up at a time when homophobia was the […]
