“Gay Men Certainly Have a Health Crisis.” Larry Kramer: “That’s Our Name!”
At a meeting in his living room in New York City, playwright and gay rights activist Larry Kramer and a small group of friends decided to form the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) organization to address the emerging HIV/AIDS epidemic.
When someone said, “We have a gay men’s health crisis,” Kramer reportedly exclaimed, “That’s our name!” And it became the name of their new activist group.
Larry Kramer is the author of the play The Normal Heart, a semi-autobiographical account of the early years of the AIDS crisis, which opened in New York on April 21, 1985.
One of the most important LGBT activists of his time, Larry Kramer died on May 27, 2020.
Read the important new book on the history of ACT UP: Sarah Schulman, Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP in New York City, 1987-1993 (2021)
Don’t miss: David France, How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS (2016)
Watch Larry Kramer’s recollections: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ew7nfoM7tA
Read or see Larry Kramer’s acclaimed play: The Normal Heart (1985)
Learn more about Larry Kramer at MakingGayHistory here
Learn more: Lawrence Mass, We Must Love One Another or Die: The Life and Legacies of Larry Kramer (1997)
Read about the early AIDS crisis: Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic (1987)
Learn more at a timeline on HIV/AIDS: http://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/aids-timeline/