Berkowitz was born to Jewish parents and raised in New Jersey, where he attended Rutgers University in the mid-1970s. While in college, he helped to organize what he believes was the first gay rights protest in the state, demonstrating against an anti-gay effigy hung by the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. After college, Berkowitz moved to New York City in 1978 or 1979, earning a living as a self-described S&M hustler.[3]