‘Genocide is being inflicted upon gay people’, says HIV activist Larry Kramer
By Nick Bond
Activist and playwright Larry Kramer has delivered a stirring speech while receiving the first-ever Larry Kramer Activism Award in New York overnight.
In a ceremony held by the GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Crisis), which Kramer helped found, the outspoken activist compared the rise of HIV/AIDS to genocide, saying he “no longer has any doubt” the US government is content to allow gay men to die.
“Thirty-four years. HIV/AIDS has been our plague for 34 years. We should have known more about this plague by now. 34 years is a very long time to let people die,” Kramer began.
“I think more and more about evil. I believe in evil. I believe evil is an act, intentional or not, of inflicting undeserved harm on others. Genocide is such an act. I believe genocide is being inflicted upon gay people.
“Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or ethnic group. Such as gay people. Such as people of color. To date, around the world, an estimated 78 million people have become infected, 39 million of whom have died. When we first became acquainted with HIV there were 41 cases.
“The main difference between the Larry Kramer who helped to start Gay Men’s Health Crisis in his living room in 1982 and ACT UP in 1987 and the Larry Kramer who stands before you now is that I no longer have any doubt that our government is content, via sins of omission or commission, to allow the extermination of my homosexual population to continue unabated.”
Kramer, whose landmark play The Normal Heart details the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in the early 80s and was made into an acclaimed HBO TV movie last year, finished his speech with a demand for a cure: “I no longer hear the word ‘cure’ from anyone. It is time to hear it from everyone,” he said.
Watch the speech in full below: