How come Provincetown became a gay haven?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I go up to Cape Cod a couple of times a year, and usually go up to Provincetown for a day while I’m there. Do any of the gay dopers or Mass. dopers know how or when this became known for it’s high percentage of gays? Am I wrong in my impression of the town?

2

Provincetown? Gay? Oh, no no no - I’m sure you’re mistaken. That’s like saying Fire Island or Rehoboth Beach or, oh, I don’t know, San Francisco were gay.

( :wink: )

I don’t know how it got that way, but thank goodness it is. I hear it’s fab - need to get there one of these summers.

Esprix

3

Something to do with being out at the tip end of a beachy peninsula? The stereotype is that the gay artist types go to Key West for the winter, and back to P-Town for the summer.

Actually, I’ve seen some articles suggesting that P-Town is becoming more of a lesbian town than a gay one, due to AIDS losses. Dunno if that means the lesbians are leaving Northampton yet, though.

Old joke: “I dropped my wallet in Provincetown and had to kick it all the way to Chatham before I dared to pick it up.”

Newer joke: "What’s Barney Frank’s favorite Cape Cod road sign? ‘Entering Dennis’ ".

4

Nah, Noho is still lousy with lesbians. I think it will be as long as Smith is still there. Though why a women’s college would attract a lot of lesbians I cannot imagine…

P-town’s website has a brief history that may answer your questions: http://www.provincetown.com/plan/about_town/history/

5

WAG:Maybe the cruise ships (tourists from Ohio) in Key West chased 'em all to Provincetown.

6

Thanks for the link Geobabe, it did answer quite a few of the questions I had.

7

<minor hijack>

Due to unfortunate family obligations I don’t care to go into, my family moved back to MA for 3 years, during the mid 90’s. My brother’s 7th grade history teacher described P-town as “A place that if you drop your wallet you kick it over the town line before bending down to get it.” Great teacher, eh? But, his comment does serve to illustrate the reputation…

8

Perhaps some gay people vacationed there and found a (finally) tolerant vacation place. Or maybe, they just weren’t bashed. Just my guess.

9

Well for goodness sake you wrote that catchy song about the appeal of gay hotspots so I should think you’d know the answer to that question.

http://www.iron-bru.net/lyrics/databaseblurgab.htm