Peter Abate

Abstract

Born in 1957 and raised in Lynn, Peter is a Lynn Classical High School graduate, an artist, a former member of Lynnside Out, and a retired social services program director living in New Hampshire. His parents met in Blackpool, England, where his mother was raised, and his father was stationed as an Air Force member during World War II. After the war, she would return with him to Everett, Massachusetts, and eventually relocate to Lynn, where they would raise their four children. As the youngest child, Peter was his mother’s favorite and described a largely happy, working-class upbringing. Although he had crushes on other boys in grammar and high school, he did not understand it then and even had a girlfriend before going to Franconia College in New Hampshire. He chose the school, in part because of their progressive policy of not discriminating based on sexual orientation. By his early twenties, at the height of the disco era, Peter had started attending Fran’s Place and, later, Mr. Dominic’s. He met his husband David in 1983, and they built a life in Lynn’s Diamond District, which by the 1990s became a mecca for gays and lesbians. While working at Greater Lynn Mental Health, Peter became an HIV and AIDS prevention trainer. Peter was part of a group that published Lynnside Out, a publication and social network for community members. In 2000, Peter and David moved to Maine and eventually New Hampshire. He discusses life in these more conservative enclaves and his perspective on the future of the LGBTQ+ movement.