You could be participating in a quiz show and posed with a tricky million dollar question to name the city popularly referred to as the Gay pilgrimage. You have four choices to pick from: Las Vegas, San Francisco, Miami, Province Town. Are you ready to make the million dollar pick? While you ponder over the winning answer, let me give you a visual and verbal tour of this dream destination.
Visitors come to this city for a variety of reasons, filled with desires, dreams, and some come filled with curiosity to get under the skin of the city and in the sheets of people. Don't be scared yet! This beautiful ocean town with coastline on either side makes you wonder if this land was created by nature for the GLBTQ community. But way before these guys arrived the Pilgrims got here in the 17th century and A tall tower (a phallic symbol?) commemorating their landing at the centre of the city is visible from miles away.
This coastline is home to huge mammals and humans. Did I say bears? :) This city doesn't distinguish or discriminate based on gender, race or sexual preference and gives everyone a space to share and care. When nature welcomes can there be an opportunity for discrimination?
Be it summer or winter this town hosts events and weeks to celebrate our likes and preferences: lesbian week, bear week, gay week, leather week, etc. And it also inspires straight people afraid of homosexuality to shed their prejudices and inhibitions and pick-up cupid's arrow to spread the message of love and peaceful coexistence.
The Disneyland for LGBTQ
If you are from the LGBTQ community you don't have to be worried or threatened about letting your hair down or just being your silly and happy self. You can French kiss in the middle of the street, hold hands your partner hands, feel his/her ass in public, dress up in fancy costumes and express your libido, sexuality and creativity. Though same sex marriage is now legal in all 50 states in the U.S. this kind of freedom and independence to openly demonstrate ones love and affection in public is yet to spread across the nation.
Many of the businesses in town are both owned and served by LGBTQ community and when you are addressed as honey, sweet heart, darling, etc. you feel inclusive, welcomed and loved. The stores here also offer a great variety of clothing to pick and choose from and sales are held during carnival time (usually third weekend in August) makes you look pretty without damaging your wallet. You will find some the best clothes and costumes to disarm the homophobic society of their prejudice. So, why spend your pink dollars elsewhere?
Beaches, Islands and Cuisine
You can swim in the waters of Atlantic and also catch the warm August sun to sport a gregous tan. A bicycle ride to the nude beaches: Long Point and Herring Cove offers a good cardio work out, while giving some an opportunity to show off their great bodies making many hearts skip a beat.
If you are in a mood to explore the ocean and its marine life then get on a trip to see the three exotic species: Minke, Humpback, and Fin whales that can turn you both into an ambassador for conservation and admirer of marine life for eternity. And, If you want to explore the nearby islands to south of the town, a quick ferry ride will make your feel Christopher Columbus.
The exploration of the ocean and the islands may take you on a salivation trip with its fresh oysters, scallops, muscles, calamaris, clams, and cod fish (fruits de mer). And if you like them in a certain way then there are cuisines from around the world (Caribbean, Indian, Asian, etc.) that tingle your taste buds and make them taste even more exotic with their species and culinary techniques. For health freaks and weight-watchers there are also juice and smoothie bars to make you feel refreshed and fabulous.
Clubs and Cubs
Every culture has its Bollywood equivalent: from plays to musical shows to bars this town is self contained. Clubs like Shipwreck, Waves, Crown and A House offer peppy music and spacious dance floors, while piano bars and karaoke clubs provide a platform to showcase musical talents thereby extending your happiness until the wee hours of the morning.
There is so much love in air that it can leave you intoxicated quickly. Don't be surprised if you hear a passerby asking you and your partner to take a room rather than making out in quiet and dark alleys or car parks. Leather and Macho bars also provide good venues for intoxication and naughtiness. For Cubs in search of Bears, dick dock (below the main deck at Boatslip) offers a play ground to get wild and wet at late night. Where you do it, always remember to play safe.
The Best Show in town
At the end of year carnival the next theme for the next year's carnival is announced. If the 2014 carnival brought alive Superheros like Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, etc. to life the 2015 rained candies turning the place into a candy land. A lot of effort and imagination goes into planning and preparing costumes which has the magical power to cure the straight world of their prejudices and inspire the queers to be proud of their innate gift.
The D-day
The 2-hour parade that begins at around at 3pm from eastern end of the city traverses through Commercial Street before terminating at the western end. Like every parade, there is plenty of music, distribution of freebies, and thoughtful product placements and advertising and marketing. And surprisingly some who come to watch the parade also get inspired and sport costumes, dress up their pets adding more color and energy to the carnival thereby spreading the message of love and togetherness.
The parade culminates at Boatslip Resort where all participants meet, mingle, and network expressing their camaraderie. For those who still have energy to expend, can go to dance floor at Boatslip (referred to Tea Dance) and shake their muscles and bones to tunes.
By the next morning the streets littered with candies, confetti and pamphlets from the carnival are cleaned up and normalcy returns to the town. Friends who came together for the carnival make a pact to return the following year before dispersing their way. New lovers who came together at the carnival from different cities depart with heavy heart and fond memories, and the lustful ones go in search of newer venues.
So, did you figure out the million dollar answer yet?
Pilgrimage: A Cure for Ignorance
Take a pilgrimage to Provincetown and experience the cape and its colorful carnival and get cured of your ignorance. For many in the LGBTQ community this experience feels like a second birth. It cures them of their fears and phobias and leaves them invigorated. But, what about the straight ones and their children? The carnival and the town can cure them of their homophobia and also educate and sensitize their children to same sex love to end discrimination and create an inclusive world.
Only if you make it to the carnival and P-Town you will realize what the world would look like without LGBTQ community: colorless, pale, unidimensional, listless, and devoid of beauty. Make a resolve to come to Provincetown, enjoy the carnival, make new friends, feel like a million dollar, and spread the positive energy to create many more such inclusive towns, societies and carnivals around the world.
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