40 years ago, this gay made-for-TV drama dared to address the AIDS crisis on network TV

Image Credit: ‘An Early Frost,’ NBC

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Showtime’s Queer As Folk, the American adaptation of the British series of the same name, which dared to depict the realities of gay life in all its glory and went on to inspire many a gay awakening.

But long before Queer As Folk, its co-creators brought another landmark LGBTQ+ story to our televisions, and its one that deserves its flowers for helping to shift the narrative around gay men and HIV.

Written by real-life partners Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, NBC’s 1985 made-for-TV movie An Early Frost is a star-studded drama that is considered the very first feature-length film—on the big screen or the small—to address the AIDS crisis.

Your dose

READ MORE OF THIS POST AT Queerty