Larry Kramer, gay activist and pioneer in the fight against HIV, dies

Larry Kramer: "The gay world treated me like a traitor"

GAYLES.TV.- Larry Kramer died last Wednesday morning in Manhattan, New York. to the 84 years. He was considered the great American activist for homosexual rights and a pioneer in the 80s of the fight against HIV. Susan Sontag he described it as «One of America's Most Valuable Rioters«. Kramer He was uncomfortable and provocative, but thanks to his stubbornness he managed to get politicians to take the crisis in the world seriously. SIDA boat at the beginning of the 80s.

En 1981 Kramer founded Gay Men's Health Crisis, the first organization that supported people with HIV In 1987 he created Act up with which he led street demonstrations and spectacular actions, such as surprise bursts in government offices, in the Wall street stock exchange and even in church St. Patrick's during mass to try to convince American leaders that they should fight the SIDA boat. He was one of the first activists to foresee that this rare disease believed to be a form of cancer among gay men would spread worldwide as a sexually transmitted disease.

Born on June 25th, 1935 en Bridgeport, Connecticut Kramer began his career as a writer in Hollywood at 23, in a job as a teletype operator in Columbia Pictures. That position later led him to refine the scripts written in the studio. He suffered from various diseases for a good part of his adult life. After being infected with HIV en 1988, contracted a liver disease that led to her having to undergo a successful transplant.

Uncomfortable and necessary

His first novel, «Fagots« (1978), whose protagonist based on his own person and on the world of sex, drugs and parties that prevailed at that time in the Big Apple, was received with rejection by the gay community. To critics of Kramer they found it difficult to believe the accuracy of descriptions of homosexual love relationships; both the gay press and the general press ripped up the book. Upon receiving the novel, Kramer said: "The straight world thought I was disgusting and the gay world treated me like a traitor. People literally turned their backs on me as I passed. Do you know what my crime was? Put the truth in writing. It is what I do: I have told the fucking truth to everyone I have met in front«. However, "Fagots« became one of the best-selling gay novel of all time.

The urgency of his life found its way into his works. «The normal heart«, Which premiered at the Public Theater in April 1985 it was performing for nine months. The work is considered a literary landmark. He was dealing with the issue of SIDA boat when few dared to speak of the disease that affected homosexuals, including homosexuals themselves.

DEP