Honouring the life of LGBTQ+ Activist Larry Kramer
Larry Kramer, legendary LGBTQ+ activist – known for co-founding the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP – and award-winning playwright, author, and filmmaker passed away on May 27th. Kramer never sat down in the face of discrimination, instead he fought harder.
As a way of honoring Kramer, let us remember how he engaged our queer community rather than dwelling on the loss.
Larry Kramer exemplified a shift of LGBT politics from the hat-in-hand lobbying and appeasement of power which followed, to one where demands successfully were made on the powerful. In a few short years ACT-UP, with little money but lots of activist energy, accomplished far more than years of money-drenched lobbying and electoral politicking, before and after it, as Andy Thayer from the Gay Liberation Network in Chicago wrote in an email.
Larry Kramer paid homage to the best of the Stonewall generation who rebirthed the worldwide LGBTQ movement in 1969 and the early 1970s. He, like the Stonewall generation, was unapologetically radical, offering solutions to challenges when slow-going solutions were clearly not moving forward.
As Andy Thayer said, “Kramer’s legacy offers important lessons for today’s world. While many LGBTQs today accept token reforms that cost the powerful little of their ill-gotten wealth, ACT-UP forced real money out of our opponents. It not only forced life-saving changes in medical protocols, it won many millions of dollars to combat AIDS. By helping win the Americans with Disabilities Act (from a Republican president, no less!) it put powerful legal tools in the hands of disabled people defending their rights, and forced government and businesses to spend real money on making workplaces and public areas accessible.”
As we work through this pandemic, it becomes increasingly evident through history that Kramer’s work in the health care system is still a fight that needs to be won in our government.
In response to Kramer’s death, Brian K. Bond, Executive Director of PFLAG National issued the following statement:
“In his lifetime, Larry Kramer urged us forward, made us pay attention, and made us take action. His work turned the tide on the AIDS epidemic and forced the uncomfortable recognition that pandemic does not discriminate, people do. He helped raise awareness about HIV and AIDS, and demonstrated in no uncertain terms that the lives of LGBTQ+ people matter. As someone living with HIV, I am personally grateful for his voice.
At a time when we again face a public health crisis due to a pandemic, PFLAG turns to Larry Kramer’s example of courage. We call on our leaders to take necessary steps that will save lives and protect all people. While Larry has passed on, his voice, his words, and his urgency to act live on.”
