IT’S
STRANGE
THAT
someone
as
outspoken
as
activist
and
writer
Larry
Kramer
is
so
soft-spoken
on
the
phone.
But
even
when
speaking
quietly,
Kramer
knows
how
to
cause
a
ruckus.
The
author
of
the
best-selling
1978
novel
“Faggots”
and
the
groundbreaking,
AIDS-inspired
1986
play
“The
Normal
Heart”
made
headlines
last
November
with
an
incendiary
speech
he
gave
at
New
York
City’s
Cooper
Union
Library
just
days
after
the
presidential
election.
“I
hope
we
all
realize
that,
as
of
Nov.
2,
2004,
gay
rights
in
our
country
are
officially
dead,”
the
70-year-old
New
Yorker
said
in
a
speech
titled
“The
Tragedy
of
Today’s
Gays.”
“And
that
from
here
on
we
are
going
to
be
led
even
closer
to
the
guillotine.”
After
founding
the
Gay
Men’s
Health
Crisis
in
New
York
and
the
activist
group
AIDS
Coalition
to
Unleash
Power
(ACT-UP),
Kramer
is
again
trying
to
inspire
gay
people
to
act.
He
blames
the
growing
rate
of
HIV
infection,
the
rise
of
crystal
methamphetamine
addiction
and
general
political
apathy
for
the
failure
of
gay
civil
rights.
He
urges
gay
men
to,
“Grow
up.
Behave
responsibly.
Fight
for
your
rights.”
Now,
the
speech
has
been
published
in
book
form,
with
a
new
introduction
by
Kramer,
a
foreword
by
feminist
Naomi
Wolfe
and
an
afterword
by
AIDS
activist
Rodger
McFarlane.
On
Thursday,
April
21,
Kramer
is
scheduled
to
return
to
D.C.,
where
he
grew
up
and
went
to
high
school,
to
read
from
and
discuss
his
latest
book,
“The
Tragedy
of
Today’s
Gays,”
at
Lambda
Rising,
1625
Connecticut
Ave.,
NW,
at
7
p.m.
Larry
Kramer:
Penguin
came
to
me.
I
never
thought
of
it
as
a
book.
It’s
really
twice
as
long
altogether
as
the
original
speech
was.
Kramer:
I
don’t
attribute
the
power
of
the
written
word
to
that
degree
of
success.
One
always
hopes,
but
I
don’t.
That
doesn’t
mean
that
I
shouldn’t
keep
yelling.
Kramer:
If
I
could
answer
that,
I
would
be
a
very
wise
man.
I
have
no
idea.
I
don’t
understand
this
population
that
we
belong
to.
And
I
don’t
think
anybody
does.
Kramer:
Who
says
it’s
defined
by
our
sexual
practices?
I
don’t
define
it
like
that,
exclusively.
We
have
to
get
beyond
that.
We
have
to
stop
thinking
with
our
sexual
organs.
Kramer:
What
gay
civil
rights
organizations?
I
think
all
of
them
are
pretty
worthless,
because
we
don’t
have
any
civil
rights.
Kramer:
I
think
that
militant
activism
doesn’t
work
anymore.
We’re
only
going
to
make
it
through
money
and
the
rich
gays
really
have
to
start
ponying
up,
and
there
is
a
certain
attempt
to
do
that.
We
have
to
do
something
like
that.
I’m
not
poo-pooing
militant
activism,
it
got
us
the
medicine,
but
it
doesn’t
seem
to
have
gotten
us
anything
else.
We
have
never
financed
ourselves
as
a
movement
to
the
extent
that
we
must.
There
are
an
enormous
number
of
wealthy
gay
men
and
women
out
there,
and
we
have
to
get
them
to
join
forces
and
work
in
collaboration,
just
like
our
enemies
do.
Kramer:
The
book
is
a
very
morbid
view
of
where
we
are
and
where
we’re
going.
I
think
it’s
the
most
depressing
speech
I’ve
ever
made
and
it
was
hard
to
write.
I
don’t
think
we
are
anywhere
and
I
don’t
see
us
getting
out
of
this
rut.
There
are
some
feeble
attempts
being
made
now
to
get
the
rich
people
together
and
one
can
only
hope
that
this
will
mushroom,
but
I
see
the
forces
on
the
right
getting
stronger
and
obliterating
us
even
more
as
I
see
the
forces
on
the
left
getting
weaker
and
taking
us
down
with
them.
Kramer:
It’s
pretty
hard
to
see
any
right
...
