"Farewell ACT UP; Long Live ACT UP..."
On the 20th anniversary of ActUP.
By Kate X Messer, 1:08AM, Fri. Mar. 23, 2007
ACT UP founder Larry Kramer delivered this speech in New York on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the multichaptered, affiliated, spun-off phenomenon of an activist "organization."
"God we were so creative while we were dying…"
"It is very wearying to witness our carrying-on so passively year after year, particularly now that all of us, all of us have been given the gift of life.
I know that young gays don't think this way, but many of us died to give you this gift of staying alive. You are alive because of us. I wish you would see this, and we all owe it to the dead as well as to ourselves to continue a fight that we have stopped fighting."
"Democracy does not protect us. Unity does."
Not to trivialize the impact of that which Larry speaks (the video speaks for itself) but… What the hell is he wearing? A quilt? A flak jacket? A missionary's robe?
Kidding aside, play the whole damn (one-hourlong) thing. Contextualize this mess. Learn (y)our history.
Meanwhile, anyone know what's up with the local chapter?
Hmmmmmmm. Nice disclaimer.
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Kate X Messer, Nov. 3, 2014
Kate X Messer, Oct. 7, 2013
Aug. 26, 2021
Politics, Larry Kramer, AIDS, ActUP, 20th anniversary, gay, lesbian, homosexual, gay news, queer
