Baring the Truth   By James Gavin  For some, seroconversion can
feel liberating�in the short term, anyway. Though himself
negative, �Morningwood��the assumed name of a San
Francisco�based 24-year-old member of the Radical Faeries�has
seen the �reward� claimed by so many who contract HIV, including
one of his past lovers. �A surrender of fear happens,� he says,
�and the sense that now you�re free to have whatever kind of
piggy bareback sex you want.�  I watch bareback sometimes, even
though I feel it�s politically wrong and potentially harmful.
Danger is hot�hotter, often, than glossy commercial porn, much
of which features escorts robotically going through the moves.
By contrast, bareback films make me think I�m missing the party.
And I wonder whether they have influenced my handful of slips
from safety.  Michael Brandon, a partner in the studio Raging
Stallion, might say yes. He dotes on fans who worship his porn
persona: a lanky, bearded, horse-hung embodiment of his
company�s name. At home he�s in a long-t