Larry Kramer's enduring rage

Larry Kramer may be 74, says Jesse Green in New York, but he has not mellowed one bit. In the 1980s, when the writer and activist helped found the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP, he was furious at straight America’s indifference to the AIDS crisis. More than 20 years later, Kramer is still furious, but for different reasons. What enrages him now, he says, is the “lack of anger” in the gay community. He calls the current state-by-state approach to legalizing gay marriage “a waste of time,” exclaiming, “I can’t afford to wait for gay marriage for 10 years!” Kramer also can’t understand why “every gay person doesn’t agree with everything I say—and I’m serious!” Recently, he fell out with playwright Tony Kushner because Kushner’s screenplay about Abraham Lincoln did not portray Lincoln as a closeted homosexual. “I don’t want him as a friend if he’s going to be this kind of a person,” Kramer said. “He disappointed me mightily.” Kramer, in fact, insists that many historical figures were gay, including George Washington (“a big queen”), Alexander Hamilton, and explorers Lewis and Clark. In demanding that fellow gays and sympathetic straight allies share his convictions, Kramer admits, he’s left a trail of broken friendships. “I’m complicated,” he says, “what do you want?”

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