I now realize that I am a gay man before anything else. Other gays may think they're a Jew first, or black, or a banker, but I'm gay.
Larry KramerRead
AIDS is a plague - numerically, statistically and by any definition known to modern public health - though no one in authority has the guts to call it one.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the severity and critical nature of the AIDS epidemic, calling for recognition and action from those in power.
Larry Kramerβs quote highlights the grave impact of AIDS as a public health crisis, comparing it to a plague that demands serious acknowledgment and response from authorities. By underscoring the failure of leadership to categorize AIDS appropriately, Kramer calls for transparency and urgent action to combat the epidemic that continues to affect countless lives.
Themes
AidsPublic HealthPlagueEpidemicAwareness
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on public health, this quote can be used to emphasize the need for action on pressing health crises.
More from Larry Kramer
All quotes βI think being gay and gay people are the most wonderful things in the world. I wish all of us could have the power and pride to benefit from what is rightfully ours. Why isn't there an enormous building in Washington called the 'National Association of Lesbian and Gay Concerns' to lobby for us?
Larry KramerRead
The most important fact is that gays have been here since day one. To say otherwise is a gross denial and stupidity. We played an enormous part in the history of America.
Larry KramerRead
We didn't exist. Ronald Reagan didn't say the word 'AIDS' until 1987. I've tried desperately to get a meeting in the White House; Gay Men's Health Crisis is already an established organization. I have a certain presence.
Larry KramerRead
AIDS was allowed to happen. It is a plague that need not have happened. It is a plague that could have been contained from the very beginning.
Larry KramerRead
I was at Yale from 1953 to 1957, and I tried to commit suicide in my freshman year because I was gay, and I thought I was the only person in the school who was. I was just totally and utterly miserable.
Larry KramerRead
Similar quotes
Illnesses which occur because of physical causes should be treated by doctors with medical remedies; those which are due to spiritual causes disappear through spiritual means. Thus an illness caused by affliction, fear, nervous impressions, will be healed more effectively by spiritual rather than physical treatment. Hence, both kinds of treatment should be followed; they are not contradictory.
Abdu'L-BahRead
Healthy people are those who live in healthy homes on a healthy diet; in an environment equally fit for birth, growth work, healing, and dying... Healthy people need no bureaucratic interference to mate, give birth, share the human condition and die.
Ivan IllichRead
I expected social rank to be the determining factor in health, and in some ways that's true. But far more important is what sort of society that rank occurs in. Being low ranking in a benevolent troop is a hell of a lot better for your blood pressure than being low ranking in an aggressive troop.
Robert SapolskyRead
HIV AIDS is a disease with stigma. And we have learned with experience, not just with HIV AIDS but with other diseases, countries for many reasons are sometimes hesitant to admit they have a problem.
Margaret ChanRead
When food prices surge, poor families suddenly find themselves unable to afford enough nutritious food. If this happens during the first thousand days of a child's life, the damage to his or her body and mind can be permanent.
Ban Ki-MoonRead
Public health is a powerful tool to level that playing field, to bend the arc of our country away from distrust and disparities and back towards equity and justice.
Leana S. WenRead