Lives, Interrupted
Logo documentary looks at the varied challenges facing HIV-infected young adults
by David Goldberg
There’s plenty to watch on Logo this summer besides Buffy and Absolutely Fabulous reruns. This Saturday, Logo airs the documentary Positive Youth, which focuses on the lives of four HIV-positive adults, gay and straight, between the ages of 18 and 27. The range of identities is quite diverse. There’s an 18-year-old small-town girl who contracted the disease from her boyfriend, a 25-year-old gay man searching for love, a religious 23-year-old coping with his loneliness, and a fabulous 27-year-old costume party personality.
The conversations do not shy away from frankness or brutality. For people born during and after the HIV/AIDS boom of the ’80s, questions of identity, social status, and individual meaning often turn up raw answers. But the defining question is imperative: how does a new generation of HIV-positive youth reconcile with its identity?
Whoopi Goldberg and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Sharon Needles have both endorsed the film on their Facebook pages.
Positive Youth is directed by Dante’s Cove star and former OutSmart interview subject Charlie David.
The one-hour documentary airs Saturday, May 19, at 7 p.m. (central time) on Logo (logotv.com).
David Goldberg is a regular contributor to OutSmart magazine.