Gay Sex in the 70s

Gay Sex in the 70s is a 2005 documentary that takes a candid look at the years between 1969 and 1981 in New York. This is the period just after Stonewall up to the AIDS crisis. It has been described as comparable to the libertine years of the Roman Empire. Free love, drugs, and dancing made this a marking point in gay history.



Prior to the new found sexual freedom of the 70s, antiwar sentiments and the civil rights movement lead to a forcefully violent rebellion of sexual minorities. The Stonewall Riots began on June 28, 1968 at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, leading the way for the gay rights movement in America and around the world. In 1970, the first Gay Pride celebrationn was held to commemorate Stonewall. Open sexuality became rampant, and this documentary shows a golden age of decadence through interviews, pictures, and film footage.


Men were cruising long before the 1970s, but the open flagrant cruising of New York began when gay men started sunbathing on an abandoned pier. It is said that there were a few at first, but the numbers increased until thousands of men were having sex in and out of the abandoned buildings. There were also the empty truck beds on the loading docks, and the wooded areas of Central Park. One man describes the smell of grime and filth, but goes on to say that people didn't care. The most important thing was sex.


There were also the baths. You could spend an entire weekend in the baths without ever leaving. Man's Country and the Saint Mark's Baths, were all inclusive, and had everything one might need for a weekend stay, including Bette Midler, who got her start performing in the gay baths of New York. She would appear on stage with a basket of poppers (an inhalant sex drug), and throw them to the masses. Drugs, dancing, and sex could also be found in the night clubs. Paradise Garage is noted for being one the first mixed places for blacks and gays, but there were so many others like Harrah, Studio 54, and The Saint, where the air was always filled with the smell of poppers.


Drugs played a major role in the libidinous free love of the 70s. With combinations of LSD, cocaine, reefer, angel dust, and Valium, to name a few, it was important to balance one's drugs for the evening in order to stay out as long as possible. Then there were the orgies, wild groups of unbridled bodies, sweaty and taught, wadded together in a mass of...Excuse me. I almost lost control just thinking about it. Where were we?...oh yes, Fire Island, which became a popular vacation spot for homosexuals. The men who partied on the island are referred to as a brotherhood during this golden age of decadent exploitation. The fire Island Pines became a well known place for sexual vacation adventures.


So many good things come to an end, and so it was that the AIDS crisis halted growing open depravity. While the tragedy of this disease ravaged so many, it forced the gay community to come together in what may have been the first time in history "that the afflicted took charge of the epidemic." AIDS forced people to learn that great freedom requires great responsibility. Looking back, one man notes that all of the flagrant sexual behavior was necessary because "It replaced shame with great joy."


I was incredibly moved by this documentary. It is impressive that anyone thought to photograph this time period, much less film it. The images are astounding, and the nudity isn't bad either. This is a MUST SEE. It is candid, provocative, and truly amazing.


Happy Endings,

Matthew