To celebrate summer, let’s take a nostalgic look back at 1983 Provincetown. Though the AIDS epidemic was already spreading through the community, partying on the Cape was in full swing. This is an excerpt from an article Eric Rofes wrote for GCN’s 1983 Ptown Supplement:

"The Boatslip Man, as we call him, has disco in his blood and, while trying hard to become interested in new wave music and current rock music, he dreads the day they ever replace disco as tea dance’s primary staple. The Boatslip Man knows the music and the words to all the most popular songs within a week of their appearance on the scene and is particularly sure to let everyone know of his preference for each summer’s anthem before the song is firmly entrenched in that position. Once it is known at the song to play as last dance at each tea, he professes his disdain and disgust for the song. (Last summer’s anthem, Laura Branigan’s “Gloria,” was detested by the entire core group of the Boatslip’s tea dancers by July 4th weekend!)"

Eric Rofes, was a frequent contributor to GCN and cofounder of the Boston Gay and Lesbian Political Alliance (BLGPA) along with Ann Maguire. He later moved to San Francisco where he continued to write and advocate for LGBT rights. The History Project is fortunate to have almost the entire collection of Gay Community News issues.

To protect the dignity of everyone who was in Provincetown during the summer of 1983, no photographs are included here. Those clothes! Those haircuts!