The Tragedy of Today's Gays

The Tragedy of Today's Gays

Cover of the first edition
Author Larry Kramer
Country United States
Language English
Publisher Penguin
Publication date
 2005
Media type Paperback
ISBN 1-58542-427-7
OCLC 57549810

The Tragedy of Today's Gays is a 2005 book by gay activist Larry Kramer, in which the author prints a speech he delivered at New York City's Cooper Union Hall on November 21, 2004.[1] In the speech, Kramer urges gay men and lesbians to take action, unite as a community, and embrace safer lifestyles. The speech led to a protest, two days later, against American General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had previously called homosexuality "immoral."[2]

The speech is preceded by a foreword by Naomi Wolf.

Criticism

The speech was deemed a "strident but truthful lecture" by The Boston Globe.[3] Jose Antonio Vargas, writing in The Washington Post, called Kramer "tireless yeller" and described the book as "a sprawling polemic, a call to action, angry, frustrated, passionate."[4] and the book was cited by the Lambda Literary Foundation as evidence that Kramer had broken "new ground in the field of LGBT literature and publishing," leading the group to honor him with a Pioneer Award.[5]

Synopsis

Kramer begins by explaining how this was the most difficult speech he had ever written and introduces a refrain repeated throughout the speech, "I love being gay. I love gay people. I think we're better than other people. I really do. I think we're smarter and more talented and better friends. I do, I do, I do, I totally do."[6] He then states that George W. Bush was re-elected based on the trope of "moral values," which served as a synecdoche for gay men and lesbians, leading Kramer to exclaim, "Please note that a huge population of the United States hates us."[7] Rather than offer up answers, Kramer directs the audience to find truth for themselves, stating, "We're living in pigshit and its up to each one of us to figure out how to get out of it."[8]

He addresses the topic of AIDS, one of the main foci of Kramer's lifework, and warns, "WE HAVE LOST THE WAR AGAINST AIDS."[9] He explains that drugs which treat the symptoms of HIV or AIDS are no cure, and that their ameliorative effects will not last forever. He urges gay men and lesbians to remember those who fought for the rights of People With AIDS and for gay rights, in general, for "we cannot move forward without accepting and understanding our past."[10]

Quoting the research of journalist Bill Moyers, Kramer places the struggle for gay and lesbian civil rights within the structure of socioeconomic inequality in the United States, and states that those most privileged in the United States are dedicated not only to destroying the rights and lives of the poor, racial minorities, and non-Christians, but of gay men and lesbians as well. He reveals that in 1971, future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell created a plan to "take back America for the survival of the free enterprise system. Not democracy. Free enterprise."[11] As part of the Powell Manifesto, conservatives in America created foundations to transform one of the most liberal nations in the world into a "classist, racist, homophobic, imperial army of pirates."[12] AIDS worked in favor of this cabal, for "Their wildest dreams then started to come true. The faggots were disappearing and they were doing it to themselves," leading Kramer to conclude, "[I]ntentionality is the only word to describe the genocidal treatment millions of bodies have been drowning in."[13]

Kramer concludes by calling gay men and lesbians to action, and states that new treatments for HIV and AIDS make action more urgent, not less: "You who have been given a new lease on life, the very gift of life itself, piss it away."[14] The answer for such destructive ambivalence is a united front that recognizes the negatives, as well as the positives, of gay life.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Specter, Michael (November 22, 2004). "Nowhere" The New Yorker
  2. ↑ Buchanan, Wyatt (March 20, 2010). "Larry Kramer thinks straight people hate gays" SF Gate/San Francisco Chronicle
  3. ↑ Morris, Wesley (3 February 2006). "A steamy but sobering look at gay life in the '70s". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  4. ↑ Vargas, Jose Antonio (May 9, 2005). "The Pessivist: AIDS Activist Larry Kramer, Hoarse from speaking truth to power." The Washington Post
  5. ↑ Lambda Literary Foundation (April 1, 2010). "Pioneer Awards"
  6. ↑ Kramer 35.
  7. ↑ Kramer 36-37.
  8. ↑ Kramer 39.
  9. ↑ Kramer 44.
  10. ↑ Kramer 52.
  11. ↑ Kramer 61.
  12. ↑ Kramer 64.
  13. ↑ Kramer 68.
  14. ↑ Kramer 80.
  15. ↑ Kramer 82.
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