DVD Review

This is basically a documentary. It doesn't really have a plot. It's not pornography. This film chronicles the state of gay life in New York City between the Stonewall incident & the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

Regarding Stonewall, I think it is necessary to say a few words for younger gay people who have been told that we owe everything we have today to that particular night in history. I believe that some younger people honestly believe that gay life before Stonewall was just one long horror after another. It's just not true. The fact is that Stonewall was a very important event in gay history; but it wasn't really the beginning of anything. The fact is that for many years before Stonewall, the gay movement had been in progress. Prior to Stonewall, gay life was very much in evidence in New York and in most other cities of any size. In some ways it wasn't all that different than it is today providing you had a healthy opinion of yourself. (For instance, The Boys in the Band was a snapshot of gay life before Stonewall.) Like the characters in that film, many gay people had issues with self respect; and we still have gay people with those issues today. The problem was that many more gay people were self-loathing then and allowed people and officials to push them around at will. There were still laws that could be enforced, even though they rarely were. Psychiatrists still officially listed homosexuality as an illness, even though most truly enlightened psychiatrists taught self-acceptance. I wouldn't want to go back to the time before Stonewall; but I do want to make the point that it was possible to live life as a well adjusted gay man before that time.

Bars, like Stonewall, were everywhere. The problem is that they were owned or very much influenced by organized crime. The police acted as protectors for these establishments as long as they received a certain agreed-upon payoff. If the bar owner failed to pay, then there were raids because the law allowed such things. During election years, there were raids because politicians needed to get votes from people who were concerned about things that were none of their business. (Has anything really changed with that?) These raids weren't so much directed toward gay people as they were a penalty to bar owners who failed to live up to their agreements with the police and organized crime. In fact, if the bar owners & the police were in sync, there would often be advance notice of a "necessary" raid.

Fortunately there came a time, beginning with Stonewall, when gay people demanded changes to laws which made this charade obsolete. Even though gay life existed in plentiful supply before the summer of 1969, Stonewall represents a kind of epicenter that symbolizes a time when gay people just got fed up with all the ridiculous idiocy and started to stand up for themselves. That was a good thing; and we owe much to the people of that time who finally had the guts to stand up to the people in power. However, it's important to understand that this entire movement was a progression. It didn't happen in one night. In fact, it's still happening today; and we still have quite a way to go.

Gay Sex in the 70's is a look at the years after Stonewall in New York City. Some people have been critical that the film deals almost exclusively with New York. I don't see that as a problem. Other films have dealt with gay life in San Francisco during this time, such as The Times of Harvey Milk. The fact is that New York is, and always has been, the cultural center of this country. What happens in New York filters down to the rest of the country eventually. San Francisco is certainly a wonderful city, but like the rest of California, it is an entity unto itself.

This film is not pornography; and contrary to what some people have alleged, there is almost no pornography in this film. Someone in a previous post said that he/she wasn't sure whether the film was showing pornographic movie shots or actual photos. I assure you that, other than a couple of scenes where pornography is being directly discussed, these images are actual footage from gay life in The City during that time. It is a fascinating look at history.

This film may also serve as a lesson of sorts. When gay people finally started standing up for their rights, they focused almost entirely on the right of sexual freedom. Sexual freedom is certainly a fun thing, at least in the beginning. However, it can also become a very addictive behavior that leads to tragic results. This film demonstrates this very clearly.

Our history of standing up for our rights has taken a natural and overall positive progression. We have come from a time where we focused almost entirely on sexual freedom to a time where we are focusing on more important issues. Life is like that. People don't go to sleep one night as an oppressed minority and wake up the next morning as a fully integrated part of society. During the last fifty years, we've made incredible advancement. We've also made some mistakes; but we've learned from them. This film gave me great hope, even though it also made me remember friends who didn't survive to see how far we've come.

I recommend this film to anyone who is interested in gay history.