Below we begin our discussion with Chad Adams, Associate Editor and actor in Hot Desert Knights (HDK's) bareback videos. HDK was the first production company to market condomless gay male videos and DVDs.
RR: How did HDK start?
CA: It was an orgy at a dungeon party. Bill Gardner and John Singleton are the founders who launched the company in 1999. Prior to starting HDK they produced safety-training videos. After moving to Palm Springs in 1994 they started having sex parties.
It was after one of those parties that a guest said: 'You guys make videos don't you?' Bill and John answered, 'yes,' to which the guest replied: 'Why don't you make fuck videos?' From that seed, HDK was born.
RR: What made you guys decide to be a bareback production company?
CA: I can't speak for Bill and John, but I don't believe there was ever a question. If the first film (Bareback Buddies) had collected dust instead of flying off the shelves, it would have been obvious that there was no market for bareback films. Today, there are scores of companies making gay bareback films. Interestingly, the straight porn companies have never stopped. Recently I was at both the Adult Video News and Internext Conventions in Las Vegas, and I recall some of the straight porn people who were puzzled by the gay community's sanctimonious stance on barebacking.
RR: I've read criticisms about HDK in everything from the Village Voice to porn actor's Matt Sizemore's column; how do you guys respond to the criticism that you're being irresponsible?
CA: They are entitled to their opinions. In my opinion, what consenting adults do with one another is a beautiful, spiritual thing, an exchange of actual energy however charged. It's been my experiences that natural sex is what guys prefer, that regrettably more often the loudest condom-thumpers are the first to take them off in moments of passion. I choose not to be hypocritical. I don't use condoms—with the exception of a partner who requests the use of them upfront. Either you use them, or you don't. This isn't the kind of playground sex you can seesaw on.
On another note, porn companies who promote condom-free sex but market their older titles as 'pre-condom classics' baffle me. Why they don't put their 'pre-condom classics' in a vault somewhere and seal it is a mystery. Now that would be taking a stand. Actually, I'm glad they haven't locked them away, because those older titles are the only ones I still watch. So regarding whether I am being irresponsible by performing bareback today, I simply cannot agree; I am providing a fantasy so that others who are true to their convictions do not have to take risks.
Frankly, and you may find this hard to swallow, I've been on the other side and in the trenches trying to promote safer-sex to those still negative. In my earlier days when I was fundraising heavily for AIDS organizations back in Arizona, I held the title 'Queen of Safer Sex.' I still have the sash. I worked very hard in bars attempting to get the message out there that those still negative should make every effort to stay that way. It was discouraging and fruitless. I finally concluded that all you can do is provide the information, that these are decisions the individuals have to make on their own—without intervention.
If you'd like to have me e-mail you all the parts of this series, or just have a comment, e-mail me at jimmyfels@yahoo.com .
