Larry Kramer — a polarizing figure in AIDS activist, who was once a young Anthony Fauci’s most vocal critic, but came to be an ardent support — has died at age 84.
A long-time survivor of HIV, Kramer was an Oscar-nominated screenwriter (Women in Love) when he cofounded the organization ACT UP in 1987 as a grassroots movement that was highly critical of foot-dragging by the Reagan Administration and other officials in the handling of the AIDS crisis. The group’s motto, “Silence=Death,” became a rallying cry as well as a divisive political statement.
Kramer’s 1984 play The Normal Heart, a fictionalized telling of his ouster from another group he helped create, The Gay Men’s Health Crisis Center, opened Off-Broadway; it finally moved to Broadway in 2011, where it won Kramer the Tony Award for best revival of a play.
Contentious and opinionated — Kramer was highly critical of the landmark Oscar-winning film Philadelphia for what he considered soft-pedaling of the gay experience — he was nonetheless an agent of change, and an instrumental figure in the gay rights movement; his 1978 novel Faggots was essential reading for a generation of men coming out.
He died due to complications from pneumonia. Kramer, who was honorary grand marshal of Dallas’ Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade in 2009, is survived by his husband, architect David Webster, who was at one time owner of Dallas Eagle.
— Arnold Wayne Jones
