Over the years, ITVS has been responsible for producing ahead-of-their-time films about HIV-AIDS and LGBT issues. In honor of World AIDS Day, we wanted to highlight a few of the documentaries that have helped raise awareness about one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history.

Lance Loud! A Death in an American Family
Decades before reality programming took over primetime television, PBS made television history with the documentary series An American Family. Lance Loud, the eldest son, inspired and shocked a generation of viewers as the first openly gay character on TV. Lance Loud! A Death in an American Family examines a life of quiet inspiration that speaks volumes about pop culture, sexuality, fame, and family.

Positive: Life with H.I.V.
According to polls, one in every three Americans knows someone who is living with or who has died of HIV/AIDS. Positive is a frank, moving, and realistic look at real-life issues that confront those infected and affected by this virus.

Travis
Travis is the story of the fight to save the life of a remarkable young boy living with AIDS. Filmed over the course of three years, the documentary chronicles Travis Jefferies’s daily life in the Highbridge community of the South Bronx, where he lives with his grandmother and primary caregiver, Mrs. Geneva Jefferies. It is a story of love and courage in the face of an ever-changing enemy — the AIDS virus.

Black Is … Black Ain’t
Marlon Riggs’s final film was a powerful critique of sexism, patriarchy, homophobia, colorism, and cultural nationalism in the black family, church, and other black institutions. The film brings multiple perspectives into focus as Riggs himself lies dying of AIDS and imagining a future in which differences unite rather than divide the black community.

Teacher
For the past 15 years, Nguyen Van Hung, once a homeless drug addict, has dedicated his life to helping street children survive AIDS in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Teacher is the story of his fight against an epidemic that claims its victims by the millions, and of the innocent children and teenagers trapped in a global nightmare.

Equally important is the attention such an award will draw to the national debate over Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT.) The film explores the genesis of that policy from its inception under then-President Clinton in 1993.

Ask Not sheds light on how DADT has prevented some of America’s most talented recruits from serving their country. Examples include skilled Arabic translators so desperately needed in Afghanistan and Iraq combat, ordered to be silent and celibate or else be removed from duty.

“This was a fun award to receive and a great acknowledgment of the film and the issue,” said Symons.

The hype around Ask Not could not come at a more relevant time. At his State of the Union address this past January, President Obama vowed to repeal DADT during his first term. Soon after, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen also denounced the policy before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The film also recently aired on Capitol Hill to coincide with Congressional hearings on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Congratulations to Johnny and his team!