"'I started crying,' Azar told me one afternoon last summer, as we sat on the sun-drenched porch of Gifford, overlooking the brick courtyard. Guests popped over to bid him hello, and he gently directed them over the lobby bar for a moment of respite from the heat. He continued the story: 'I was like, 'This is actually why I'm doing this.'"
"Creating spaces for queer community is ever important, but these days, such projects have taken on a more urgent tenor. Everywhere we turn, queer people and culture are under attack, as demonstrated by everything from the erasure of queer history from government websites to sweeping restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare. As a gay man living in the United States, I've had slurs tossed at me for merely existing in public, even in supposedly liberal cities."
Gifford House is a 33-room historic hotel in Provincetown purchased in 2023 by innkeeper Steve Azar, who undertook significant rehabilitation. Azar welcomed a proposal to use the hotel as a venue for staged plays, prompting an emotional commitment to transform the property into a home for queer art, community, and joy. Provincetown offers an unusually safe environment for queer people, even as queer history and rights face erasure and restrictions elsewhere. The preservation and activation of Gifford House aim to resist corporatization and sustain Provincetown's queer magic and communal spaces for locals and visitors.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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