In Celebration of this Season of PRIDE, this is the Seventh and Final Post concluding this weeklong series about PTown. This is the Story of my experiences there up through the present day — and I am Happy to share it with You. Happy Pride!

 
Provincetown

PTown This Summer Just Begun

Last Week’s Gay Pride Parade in New York

The Pride Parade is held in New York City on the Last Sunday in June.
It is quite a popular Parade, made up mostly of Advertisers.
Last Sunday it lasted for over eight hours.
For Dancing,
For Hyatt,
For New York Life,
For Delta Airlines,
For Diet Coke

SUSI VILLA’s Float in Last Week’s Gay Pride Parade in New York

A comfortable three hours north on the Acela Express, followed by a 90-minute Fast Ferry Ride — The fare is somewhere around five hundred dollars, round trip; Seems like a big investment for a Weekend Away…

A middle-aged husband-and-wife, are walking along the shore at Herring Cove Beach.
An older man, remarkably fit for his age, emerges naked from the Ocean, having just enjoyed a fine swim, and crosses in front of them heading back to his towel.
The Wife seems mildly startled by the unexpected site.
The Husband explains, “There used to be a Gay Beach here.”

It does not occur to the Wife to ask how he knew that.

At the Provincetown Museum at the base of Pilgrim Monument,
We are reminded of what we learned in Grammar School:
The MayFlower landed in 1620 — Some four hundred years ago — and the Pilgrims arrived here in Provincetown.
Thirty-Four Years Later, the Governor of the Plymouth Colony purchased this land from the Chief of the Nausets —
it turns out, the price paid was:
Two brass kettles,
Six coats,
Twelve hoes,
Twelve axes,
Twelve knives,
And a box.
The Pilgrims arrived here, in this very spot,
To Escape Persecution.
Let’s remember that!

The New Presidency has hit!
And because of what filmmaker GREG ARAKI, thirty years ago, called
“A big White House filled with Republican FuckHeads,”
It hits Hard.
All Pride Events at the White House are cancelled.
There will be no proclamation and no acknowledgement.
And there is no objection.

Meanwhile, just two weeks ago, some 500 miles south of here,
during this Season of PRIDE,
House Majority Whip STEVE SCALISE (R-LA) and countless other Republicans were attacked by a shower of bullets at a BaseBall practice, and saved by a DC Law Enforcement Officer named CRYSTAL GRINER.
She and her professional partner, Officer DAVID BAILEY, also an African American, were the Cops who took down the Shooter.
She received a Bullet Wound in the Ankle, while saving all those Lives.
GRINER’s Life Partner and Married Companion is TIFFANY DYER.
Senator STEVE SCALISE, in addition to being an honored guest of DAVID DUKE, white supremacist and former head of the KKK, is a vocal proponent of bans on Same Sex Marriage — Alive Today Courtesy of a Woman of Color
Who Loves a Woman!
That is PRIDE!
 

CRYSTAL GRINER and STEVE SCALISE, whose Life she saved

Following AUDRA MCDONALD, LILY TOMLIN, and CHER these last few years,
SUTTON FOSTER, MEGAN HILTY and LAURA BENANTI will be treading the Boards this Summer…
MISS RICHFIELD, VARLA JEAN MERMAN, and our Beloved KATE CLINTON…
Up and down the street are still multiple versions of DIANA ROSS, BETTE MIDLER, and more versions of CHER!

Tips For Tops’N has somehow slipped away, replaced by a very fancy black-painted upscale restaurant named Devon’s,
Just as Silva’s SeaFood, further West along Bradford Street has been replaced by a very fancy yellow-painted upscale restaurant named Victor’s…
PTown Pulp has come and gone, its founder, RON, having passed away, and his husband, PAUL, keeping it up for an additional season. What a Beautiful Expression they put out into the World, bringing JOY!
The Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, now in it’s Twelfth Season, has begun receiving attention well beyond the borders of PTown.
The Provincetown Theatre Company still exists, moved from the Provincetown Inn over to the East End of town.
KEVIN SHENK passed away. Most members of the current Company didn’t seem to know her.
SOPHIE is no longer at Fortune Cookie; having put both daughters through college, she has moved on…

As I walk the Herring Cove Beach Trail today, I hear sound bites in the breeze…

“…A mohawk, and he died it in the colors of the rainbow flag…”

“… One of those things that Elizabeth Taylor was carried on in Cleopatra. What’s that called? I need one of those…”

“… The speedo is still the sexiest. Cock and Balls are what one looks at on a man and a speedo gives the perfect tan line so that Cock and Balls are highlighted, while the rest of you gets darker and darker…”

“…My bathing suit is a thong, so even if I were wearing it, lying face down, I don’t see what difference it makes to a Ranger that there is a thin rope of fabric hidden in my ass crack, vs my just lying out naked. There is no difference. It’s still my bare ass! He said he had to give me the ticket, but that he agreed with me…”

“…Baccala! Cornu a Cornu! Calamari!…”

“… I have a tiara…”

“…Get inside! You’re gonna’ have a Heart Attack…”

“…The East End? You might as well live in CHINA!!!…”

“… We’ll get back with an hour to hit the gym and pump up before Tea! Perfect!…”

“…Your Eyes in this SunLight…”

“…The Man stood Naked in the Ocean and for the first time, he understood his body…”

And I wonder
Are these soundbites I hear being currently Spoken?
Are they the voices of those who have gone Before us, like the Radio Broadcasts of FIBBER, MCGEE & MOLLY still floating around in Outer Space for all eternity?
Or are they the voices of the Future?
Perhaps we are Everywhere
And cannot be Silenced…
Perhaps for every Husband and Wife arriving from out of town who intrude upon Herring Cove Beach,
There will always be an Older Gay Man who emerges from the Ocean bare naked,
Staking Claim
And perhaps there will always be a Husband who knows a little too much…

Gentlemen, Sally Forth!

In Celebration of this Most Beautiful Place
In Celebration of its Diversity
And Magic…
The Spiritual Nurturing of the Elements…
In Celebration of Gay People as an integral part of this and Every Community…
ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ELLEN DEGENERES, WALT WHITMAN —
Though I expect only two of those ever made it to Provincetown.
As WHOOPI GOLDBERG said years ago about Gay People,
“It’s like Black People! They’re Here!”
Everyone is Welcome!
Everyone is a Part of This!
And Together, maybe we can figure out how to respect one another in ways that acknowledge all of our Cultures and Histories,
Moving us forward as a Society in which the Federal Marshals do not need to target one group undercover,
And the White House does not need to cancel all LGBTQ celebratory events, further marginalizing one Group’s Cultural History and Progress,
Enabling us to protect and enjoy the MultiCulturalism of this Magical SandBar,
And from here, to bring that Spirit of Community OUT into the World!

EDIE WINDSOR…
JIM OBERGEFELL…
CRYSTAL GRINER…

PRIDE is not just a day,
Not just a Season,
But a Way of Living.
It can be a Parade. But it must be a March!
Be prepared. It may be a Fight!
It does not happen alone. It happens in Community!
And sometimes, it happens naked, wearing only the Armour of the Soul….

HAPPY PRIDE!

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