It's not the homosexual who is perverse but the situation in which he lives

Duration: 70

Year Published: 1970

Creator: Rosa von Praunheim

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: Defining the gay ghetto as a state of mind, a product of internalized heterosexual values, Praunheim takes a dime-novel story about one man's journey to liberation and uses it to assail media-created romantic illusions, capitalist principles and sexist role-playing. David, a young man from the country, arrives in Berlin where he meets Clemens and lives with him in bourgeois domesticity. The relationship ends when David becomes involved with a wealthy older gentleman, but this liaison is also shortlived. The film then follows the young man as he explores the various options of the gay world: street cruising, the bar life, the rough trade of public lavatories and the transvestite cabaret scene. In the end, David's friend Paul takes him to a gay communal flat where the group discusses his problems and helps him realize that he has been leading a superficial life. They suggest that he become politically involved and join with other gay people in the fight for freedom. When shown in New York, the film aroused the ire of gay activists who bristled at the film's litany of accusations (delivered via voiceover narration) against bourgeois homosexuals, particularly their inaction in the face of oppression. (Does not circulate)