1983. HIV/AIDS: 1,112 and Counting
In March 1983 the New York Native published what was to become an historic piece of writing about the developing AIDS crisis.
1,112 and Counting was written by a very angry Larry Kramer. The co-founder of the world’s first AIDS organisation – Gay Men’s Health Crisis – Kramer had resigned from its Board in 1983 because of its ‘political impotence’. He had not resigned at the time the article was published but made it very clear that, “my views are not to be attributed to Gay Men’s Health Crisis.”
1,112 and Counting was, in effect, the first angry voice about the intransigence and inaction on the AIDS crisis. Sadly, little had changed by the time Vito Russo made his Why We Fight speech five years later – other than a major increase in the number of people with HIV and AIDS.
And yet, in 1983, Kramer was already warning:
“Our continued existence as gay men upon the face of this earth is at stake. I repeat, unless we fight for our lives we shall die.”
Of course, in retrospect, we know what the response to Kramer’s article was. Nothing. But I’m publishing it here because I think it elaborates on a crucial part of our history and, in so doing, explains precisely why we should never ever forget it.
It refers to the fear – the unknown cause of AIDS and the poor prognosis: “86% of all serious AIDS cases die within three years”. It talks about the fact that it predominantly affects gay and bisexual men: “Of all serious AIDS cases, 72.4 percent are in gay and bisexual men.” And it gives examples of what that meant in practice: finding the cause was a low priority; lack of funding hampered research and petty regulations restricted access to health care (for example, “Sloan-Kettering still enforces a regulation from pre-AIDS days that only one dermatology patient per week can be admitted to that hospital. (Kaposi’s sarcoma falls under dermatology at Sloan-Kettering.) But Sloan-Kettering is also the second-largest treatment center for AIDS patients in New York.”
[*There is a detailed study of governments and our communities’ responses to HIV/AIDS in my downloadable book Gay in the 80s. Full details here.]
Kramer also takes an angry shot at the gay community for not getting behind the organisations that were trying to do something about AIDS: “I am sick of gay men who won’t support gay charities. Go give your bucks to straight charities, fellows, while we die.”
This is exactly what it was like in the early days of the AIDS crisis so it’s little wonder that Larry Kramer was so angry. Indeed, the big mystery is why more people weren’t.
Interestingly, at the end of Kramer’s article he calls for “Volunteers for Civil Disobedience.” Remember, this was 1983. ACT UP didn’t start until 1987.
1,112 and Counting
If this article doesn’t scare the shit out of you, we’re in real trouble. If this article doesn’t rouse you to anger, fury, rage, and action, gay men may have no future on this earth. Our continued existence depends on just how angry you can get.
I am writing this as Larry Kramer, and I am speaking for myself, and my views are not to be attributed to Gay Men’s Health Crisis.
Kramer was enormously influential in the community, while not particularly loved. The article roused many, I’m sure. I remember sitting in a coffee house in L.A. absolutely floored by the raw emotion and honesty. I had been covering the outbreak with growing alarm for the gay radio collective at left-wing station KPFK. By the summer of 1982, just a year into our weekly coverage, our news team could already see that the epidemic was the most significant crisis the movement had ever faced, with no end in sight. Kramer helped frame the issue for the community in a way that cut through the BS. I know many, including prominent movement activists, felt he was sex-negative and shrill. Big personalities are hardly unknown in our community. Say what you will. Kramer happened to be right.