Is Gay Sex "Dead"?

www.sexinthe70s.com

At the beginning of “Gay Sex In The 70’s”, artist and activist Barton Benes is sifting through pictures of some of the men he’s “come across” during his sexual awakening in the 70s. He has chosen to immortalize these images by affixing them to jagged pieces of hardened clay and keeping them on his coffee table. One of the interesting things is that the pile is quite high- filled with “cowboys”, “leathermen”, “trade” and other staples of the gay community that any fan of the Village People would be completely familiar with. This is his segue into the tawdry tale that is his experience as a gay man in the city that never sleeps during one of the most turbulent and storied periods in gay history- and he is not alone or unique. Cart out the procession of older gay men with their own versions detailing the freedom of being “happy, carefree, and gay” during a period about which they wax poetic with so much zeal that is almost seems made up. However, we are presented with irrefutable evidence that is most certainly is NOT made up. What is so titillating about this- and one of the reasons the film succeeds- is the cross-section of subjects that the documentary puts in front of the camera; from pioneers of the ACT UP movement and The Gay Men’s Health Crisis to Larry Kramer (author of “Faggot”) and Mel Cheren (founder of West End Records, whose recordings were a large soundtrack of the PHENOMENON of Larry Levan and The Paradise Garage).

“Gay Sex in the 70s” is chock-full of stories (and imagery) of the “libertine” period of homosexuality- and examines the rise of the “sex without guilt or consequences” dogma that many a present-day fag longs to return to. It is Gay Camelot- the time immediately following the riots of Stonewall (which mentally “freed” gays as a whole) and right before the discovery of “GRID” (which would be renamed AIDS once the bigoted medical community realized this new disease affected more than just gays). This period is brought to life by Benes and other “survivors” of this era. All of which is book-ended by historical references, stock film of “Vintage Gay NYC” (the mere mention - never mind the footage-of The Paradise Garage made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end), and thoughtfully-edited images of gay sex (dare I say classic porn?) that illustrate the bacchanalian revelry known as “gay sex” back then.

The film eases into the subject of STDs that became commonplace as a result of this “lifestyle” (is that where this expression comes from?), and tales of taking penicillin before a night of “partying” and such (one person’s re-telling of having gonorrhea of the throat was particularly NOT SEXY) lead us to the END of the fantasy. Benes talks about the “pervert” that asked him to wear a condom during sex. People start questioning whether they are destroying themselves literally with all the preoccupation with sex. It is then that AIDS rears its ugly head and, as one of the subjects put it, was “out the door before we could catch it”. Cue moral: gay sex in the 70s was GREAT, but would be greater if there were more of us around that could talk about it. Remember the irrefutable evidence that these tales were definitely NOT made up? Well, here goes. All of the men whose faces don the artistic clay chips on Benes’ coffee table- every last one of them- is now DEAD (it is inferred as a result of AIDS). Moreover, the stilts that held up the abandoned factories down at the pier (where footage showed men having anonymous sex by the hundreds) are now just a collection of thick wood pieces just barely visible above the water- a grim allegory for the hundreds of thousands of gay men that are no longer “above ground”.

The “RE-EDIT”…
Ok, the first thing that was interesting about this movie was that the vast majority of the audience attending the screening could have been in the movie. For the most part I was surrounded by older white homos out on the town with their lovers or ‘dates’. These were the people who nodded in agreement or who let out knowing laughs at points during the film that showed sex behind or in trucks parked down at the piers, orgy-parties on Fire Island, or taking a line of coke at Studio 54. No judgment- this just wasn’t MY experience (for the record, I wasn’t even OLD enough to be having sex during the 70’s!!!). . I knew that going into the theatre. I did, however, feel excluded from the discussion (as most black gay men can attest to when entrenched in conventionally “white gay” situations). I mean, black gay men DEFINITELY had sex in the 70’s, did we not? Maybe someone will make a documentary about THAT (hmmmm)

Another thing that was interesting was the arc of the film, and how it mimics the “gay” experience of the 70’s through present day. At the beginning “we” are titillated with erotic images of man-sex and Dionysian orgies. We are regaled with “I remember this one time…” stories that are fantastic in every sense of the word. We are shown how sex and sexual freedom changed our own perception of our homosexuality; it went from something to be ashamed of to something to be celebrated. I could almost feel the “pride” and freedom that was present during that time in the audience. However, when the onset of AIDS is broached, I can hear and feel a collective “sigh”- a feeling of the wind being taken from sails- in the voices of the movie as well as in the sorrowful moans of the audience members. This has to be what those that are still among us must be feeling about being gay BEYOND the 70s; a new-found sexual freedom “high” (which was really “the calm before the storm”), followed by so-called “consequences” of gaining said freedom, and a return to the restriction of such.

I wish I had made the earlier screening, because Joseph Lovett and other members of the cast were present afterwards to discuss the film. I would have asked about the idea that “gay sex in the 70’s” is just not that different from gay sex now. I mean, I know PERSONALLY that there is a large contingent of gay men out there at this very minute who are having indiscriminate “raw” sex with reckless abandon. The only difference now is that most don’t appear to be doing it with the freedom and license that those in the 70s seemed to; it’s been reduced to a subculture. Even as people are still having “gay sex” in the manner that is discussed herein, for the most part that behavior (which defined “gay” for a lot of people in the 70’s) is now reviled in the gay community- at least on the surface.

I think every gay person should cop this documentary once its released on DVD- put it on the shelf right next to “And the Band Played On” and “Paris Is Burning”.
But I digress…