Gay Sex in the 70s is a must-see documentary

I said in my very first post that the three most important milestones I consider in the history of gay people in the last century are: the Stonewall Riots, the recognition of AIDS, and the mainstream rise of the Internet. Spanning the time period between the first two milestones, between June 1969 and June 1981, is the 70s. And boy, what a crazy decade that was! Well, what do you think happened after the centuries of repression that’s been violently released by the Stonewall riots and before the grim realization that unprotected sex has fatal consequences? Lots and lots and lots of gay sex. And that’s what the straightforwardly-named documentary Gay Sex in the 70s is all about. (See the official website.)

If there’s one word to describe this decade, it would be hedonistic. In a soundtrack filled with disco beats, Gay Sex in the 70s takes us back to that hedonism as told through the eyes of several gay men that lived back then in New York City and survived to tell the tale. Many reviews have said that this movie would be enlightening to younger viewers and boy was I ever enlightened! I had an inkling that gay sex was prevalent but I never imagined that gay sex was shockingly common back then. Sex occurred in abandoned piers, at the back of trucks, and along alleys. It happened at the backrooms of gay bars, in the dance clubs, and in the bathhouses that were open 24/7. Gey men even had sex publicly in Fire Island Pines, which seems to be the New York City–equivalent of Puerto Galera except that Fire Island looks like a more upscale gay paradise.

I’m actually quite disturbed by the recklessness of gay people back then when it came to sex and even drug usage. (I guess this is because of hindsight and the fact that I grew up in the age of AIDS.) Unlike straight men who might get girls pregnant, there seemed to be no adverse consequences to having gay sex back then. Even when they contracted STDs like gonorrhea, they just took antibiotic shots and rared to go back to the cruising scene as soon as the symptoms were gone. Gay men disdained condoms then and would be so addicted to sex (most of it unprotected) that it even affected other parts of their life. Sex was the norm—until they started dropping like flies. The media at that time called this unknown disease as the “gay cancer” and it was then that HIV and AIDS was discovered, to the horror of everyone.

Watching this film, I’m now not surprised that Christian fundamentalists latched to the conclusion that AIDS is a “gay disease” brought down by God to punish the homosexuals. I think that’s patently false, but one cannot avoid the likely conclusion that the unbridled gay sexual revolution in the 70s played a huge role in the spread of AIDS outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Anyway, the movie avoided ending itself on that depressing note by stating that the sexual energy was instead channeled into a positive form of activism whereby gays took charge in spreading information about AIDS, caring for AIDS victims, and basically making AIDS awareness and prevention strategies what it is today.

As far as documentaries go, Gay Sex in the 70s is not as polished as say, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth or even Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911. But the content of the film is what really matters and I heartily recommend PLUs everywhere to watch this. It’s very eye-opening and provides much needed perspective to the history of gay people. The movie is currently showing at Robinsons Galleria and I think it’s screening for only one week until Tuesday. Please do watch it if you can.