‘He kicked the door open for so many’: Twitter pays tribute to Larry Kramer
Kramer died of pneumonia after enduring illness for much of his life, including his own battle with AIDS.
Twitter is paying tribute to the pioneering New York AIDS activist Larry Kramer, who died on Wednesday. He was 84.
Kramer’s angry voice and pen raised consciousness about AIDS and roused thousands to action. His art was often as blunt as his anger, but his dedication was unwavering.
“He kicked the door open for so many,” American-Canadian actor Bruce Dow tweeted.
“Having met Mr. Kramer only once in Hollywood at a development meeting, there are so many #LarryKramer stories left to tell,” tweeted Benjamin DeLanty, a psychologist.
Another Twitter user Gabby recalled Kramer’s famous quote. “Some reporter called me ‘the angriest gay man in the world’ or some such. Well, it stuck, but I realized it was very useful.” Thank you Larry Kramer, for weaponizing your righteous anger and changing the world. We owe you so much,” she posted on Twitter.
Kramer’s early advocacy for a national response to AIDS as the disease first emerged in the 1980s. It helped raise awareness and shape healthcare policy into the 1990s.
He co-founded the ACT UP movement that made AIDS a national issue in the United States.
Kramer died of pneumonia after enduring illness for much of his life, including his own battle with AIDS, his close friend, Will Schwalbe, told news agency Reuters.
Schwalbe, who was also Kramer’s literary executor, stressed that his friend’s death was not related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A critique of New York’s fun-forward gay community, it was his 1978 novel ‘Faggots,’ that established the man as a controversial, highly-opinionated figure and an occasional pariah. Kramer’s righteous anger became his calling card, causing him to be ostracised, and celebrated many years later.