Prior to Larry Kramer’s article, AIDS was a silent killer. It was rarely spoken of and it did not have a name. It was an illness being contracted throughout the gay community – a community that was not accepted and was seen as promiscuous. AIDS was a promiscuous disease – even though it only took one person, one time to contract HIV.
At the time of publication, AIDS was killing the gay community single handedly with no help from any form of government. The mayor of New York said nothing. He did nothing. And as Kramer said, “with his silence on AIDS, the Mayor of New York is helping to kill us.”
This article is widely significant to the ultimate course of LGBTQA rhetoric, it gives insight of American politics and the stance it held against the gay community and Kramer offers an astute look into the way the gay community was seen and how it differs from the stereotypes that surrounded them at the time.
By the end of 1983, months following Kramer’s essay, changes and progress were made… slowly, but surely. Organizations and institutions began to assess the situation and the severity of the disease that was killing so many people, so quickly. It was not an officially recognized disease by the end of 1983, but big changes were to come in the coming years.
It wasn’t until mid-1985 that AIDS was mentioned publicly by President Reagan – where he vowed that congress would make AIDS a priority. And with that, things really began to change. Government institutions dedicated time, money and resources to learning and diminishing the immune disease.
At the time of Kramer’s article, he was one of very few people talking about the disease that was killing hundreds of Americans. In a way, it was a plague of the gay community and because no one was talking about it and no one was helping, Kramer truly believed the gay community would be extinct if it wasn’t helped soon. And it was. His insight, while it may not have officially provoked a number of changes, provided insight that no one else was giving. He demonstrated the urgency to save these people, who did not deserve to die.
With this article, and many others, in my eyes, Kramer became a pioneer in homosexual rhetoric. He gave a voice not only to the dead, but to the dying and to a silent community. While the New York Native was a gay newspaper, it has since been used in numerous publications and garnered the attention of millions.
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I really enjoyed that you linked the fight about AIDS to the political situation throughout time. The brief recount of history that you gave was very through and did a good job of showcasing how changes were ultimately made regarding AIDS. In terms of improving significance, you cover the connection of politics extremely well, but I am curious to see if there is another side that shows significance as well. An area to look at my be the medical field, which may connect to the idea of confession as a type of rhetoric.
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I really enjoyed your article. I think you did a great job of not only explaining what Larry Kramer did for the nation, but giving the history of what was happening in this time period. It helps the readers understand how important this speech was for changing the future. I also like how you have the video of Larry Kramer’s speech right next to your post. One suggestion is to show the difference of AID awareness since his speech.
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I appreciated the history of AIDS to tie in all of your information and opinions. You kept both the medical fight and political fight about AIDS relevant, and even thought Kramer himself was not a part of the LGBTQA+ community, he greatly impacted the community by making AIDS known to everyone. The stigmas around AIDS were what kept it quiet, but Kramer spoke up because it was a serious disease that was taking lives.
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I really enjoyed the outlook of AIDS throughout time. I find the strongest thing youve done in your post was giving the readers more insight and background information of the AIDS epidemic.In terms of covering the political effect of your topic you did a great job. Something I would want know is more thorough information on the public effect and possibly a cultural shift on thoughts of the situation.
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We haven’t really had the opportunity to talk about HIV and Aids this semester and your post does a good job of getting into the intricacies of the virus. Politically, homosexuals were left out to dry while Aids was disproportionately destroying the LGBTQA community. I would try to look at the virus medically and debunk some myths about homosexuality.
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