If you've been curious about how safe
sex became the norm among gay men, then Sex
Positive is your ticket to having all your questions
answered. The film opens in New York Friday.
Sex Positive focuses on early
safe sex pioneer Richard Berkowitz whose life of hustling on the mean
streets of New York came to a crushing end when AIDS started its
infectious assault in the 1980s. He was one of the first gay men to
demand answers about the disease from the government and advocate
condom use among gay men. His message, however, was met with
resistance from men who were not ready to leave the party.
Director Daryl Wein culls together rare
footage of Berkowitz along with new interviews to piece together his
contributions to the invention of safe sex. Berkowitz's anger and
frustration at the gay men who rejected his message is also on
display.
Berkowitz molded his safe sex message
off Dr. Joseph Sonnabend's pioneering AIDS research, which suggested
as early as 1983 that anal sex among gay men was fueling the
pandemic.
“It was Richard Berkowitz's book,
Stayin' Alive: The Invention of Safe Sex, that forced me to
face my own ignorance,” said filmmaker Wein in a press release.
“Like most of my friends, I had always thought of safe sex as a
government invented advocacy program, but I was enlightened to find
out it was not the government at all but the tireless efforts of so
many fervent activist who paved the way for change.”
“Both in the government and the gay
community, the widespread silence during the early years of AIDS is
absolutely shocking. What Richard taught me, among many other
things, was that the most promiscuous gay men were the pioneers of
the safe sex movement”
Sex Positive opens in New York
City's Quad
Cinema Friday, June 12 after winning numerous prizes on the GLBT
film festival circuit.
Gay Entertainment Report is a feature
of On Top Magazine and can be reached at
ontopmag@ontopmag.com.