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Provincetown

Provincetown Tourism Official Explains Hot Dog Incident

July 19, 2006 at 9:36 AM | 0 Comments

Remember the whole Ptown hot dog incident, first reported by the Boston Globe late last week? Tensions were running high there over an anti-gay marriage petition that was passing through town. Well, as is always the case there are at least two sides to every story. Luckily for us, Jaunted was granted unfettered access to Bill Schneider, Director of the Provincetown Tourism Office, who gave us his take on the aforementioned Hot Dog Incident incident during a phone call with Jaunted editors yesterday.

According to Schneider, the issue was one of timing more than anything else. A petition to get anti-gay marriage legislation on the ballot in Massachusetts circulated through the local Catholic Church, and was signed by some residents.

Provincetown is small enough that locals know each other quite well, and when Hines and Cabral spotted each other, they got into a heated discussion on the topic, a crowd formed. "This wouldn't have been an issue if we weren't in the height of the season," Schneider explained. The big crowd made the back-and-forth a police issue; without the crowd, it would have been one of many the many debates that take place quite frequently in the town.

As for the issues regarding slurs between gays and straights, Schneider says that the problems come from out-of-towners.

Our guess? A bunch of hooligans from Southie who hopped the fast boat to Ptown. Just kidding, Southie-folk! please don't slash our tires!

Since the incident, Ptown has redoubled their efforts to promote tolerance by holding a "No Place for Hate" meeting last week, but they "can't control all of the people from many different backgrounds coming together," nor put a ban on free speech to solve the problem. The town's population swells by as much as 70,000 on peak weekends, so that's the way it goes, for now.

Have something you want to add to all this? Let us know in comments or just email us.

[Image via earthdog/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Provincetown Breeder's Cup [Jaunted]
·   Intolerance in Ptown [Boston Globe]

Provincetown

Provincetown: A Bad Place to Hold the Breeder's Cup

July 17, 2006 at 12:17 PM | 0 Comments

One of the things that is most striking for visitors to Provincetown, especially straight men and women, is a "flip the script" feeling. Suddenly, gay culture is the dominant one, and it makes Ptown a fascinating place to visit, even for those who come from places where gay culture is thriving, like New York or San Francisco.

According to the Boston Globe, Ptown is struggling with the flip side of the usual discrimination problems as well; gay residents are accused of slurring straight residents by calling them "breeders" and accosting them for signing an anti-gay marriage petition. The names of the 43 Ptown residents who signed were published online by knowthyneighbor.com.

This was the cause of a fracas between Ptown local Yvonne Cabral and Provincetown Magazine publisher Rick Hines last Friday. Before we give you possibly the best description of the lead-up to a fight ever, let's just say that we think everyone should get along, regardless of sexual orientation, and perhaps a vacation town is a good place to start relaxing about life in general.

Anyway, the Globe set the scene before Hines accosted Cabral:

All parties involved agree that Cabral was shopping and Hines was buying a hotdog when Hines told Cabral that she was a bigot.

Shouldn't tasty street food help us overcome our differences?

[Image via darlingdee79/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   A New Intolerance in Ptown [Boston.com]