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Anniversary Of Act Up

Anniversary of ACT UP

Larry Kramer on the 20th Anniversary of ACT UP, the Government's Failure to Prevent the AIDS Crisis and the State of Gay Activism Today

This month, ACT UP - the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power - is marking its 20th anniversary. We spend the hour with ACT UP co-founder, Larry Kramer. A legendary - and controversial - figure in the gay rights movement, Kramer wrote some of the first articles warning about the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. He has also written many plays including "The Normal Heart" and "The Destiny of Me." Kramer was diagnosed with HIV in the mid-1980s. He nearly died in 2001 from Hepatitis B in the liver. He is now over 70 years old. He joins us today in our firehouse studio for the hour.
Ref. www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/29/1352252

Up Act Anniversary

This guy has a chip on his shoulders about the size of Texas. I think it is very interesting to read how he and his organization have pulled off stunts that go against authority, but he clings to the thought that if a few doctors had told the gay community to stop having sex for a while that they would have and AIDS would not have spread. While it is no shock, noting the source, that he blames the Regan and Bush adminstrations for the epidemic. Somehow those 8years of Clintonian rule must have had a very positive effect on the AIDS issue, but I am confused as the number of cases continued to increase even under the apparent Clintonian Utopia.

Someone should inform this gentleman that teachers have been informing students for over 30years now about not having sex until you are married, but yet they continually do. Could the kids just not hear?

His argument about this conspiracy where the doctors withheld the information from the gay community is fairly interesting when he states the problems the community had been facing in previoius years: syphilis, gonnorrhea, herpies, amoeba and hepititis. If I am not mistaken, each of these could have been prevented by the proper use of a condom. Doctors had been telling the community that for years, but yet it still continued and had they listened from the previous experiences, AIDS might not have been as big a problem as today. If you are going to have unprotected sex at any time, you are running a risk. The gay community knew they were running a risk for the above mentioned issues, but continued to have unprotected sex anyway. Why was a particular doctors request for abstinence going to be followed this time? If you have unprotected sex, you are assuming a risk and the responsibility that goes with taking that risk.

Sorry it sounds negative, but this guy is placing the blame on everyone but himself. The idea that this person was willing to run the risk of syphilis, gonnorrhea, hepititis, herpies and amoebas, but is upset that we didn't through AIDS into the mix seems a bit misguided to me.

Anniversary Of Act Up History & Civil Business Politics

I agree with above and will add that I find talk to be very cheap. Instead of blaming government why does he not show / teach how to stop the epidemic?