Larry Kramer

Is Lincoln A Gay In The Spielberg Movie?

Spoiler alert (though it's actually more of a non spoiler alert). They had a surprise screening of Steven Spielberg's Lincoln at the New York Film Festival the other night, showcasing the film about a pivotal period in American history regarding both war and slavery. A friend of mine who works in ... More >>

An Enemy Of The People: My Review

Henrik Ibsen's 1882 play An Enemy of the People--about a shattering crisis of ethics vs. corruption--is getting the stuffiness taken out of it in the Manhattan Theatre Club production directed by Tony winner Doug Hughes. The trimmed text doesn't belabor anything as it moves forward and the translat ... More >>

David France on the Plague Years: The history and survival of ACT UP

Here's Who Saved the World

David France's stirring history of ACT UP

Streisand Responds To Larry Kramer's Attack

As you know, Larry Kramer wrote the powerful 1985 play The Normal Heart, about life in the trenches during the early days of the AIDS crisis. Barbra Streisand was going to direct the movie version at one point, but there were problems in drumming up the kind of money Larry wanted (among other confl ... More >>

AIDS Activism: More Than a Walk in the Park

It's back—onstage and screen, but not in the streets

White House Hosts First LGBT Pride Month Reception With Out Military, Married Same-Sex New Yorkers; Obama Gives GMHC Shout Out

After a contentious press announcement on immigration earlier in the day in the Rose Garden, President Obama hosted his third LGBT Month Pride Reception in the East Room of the White House. Even though it is not a very old tradition, there were a couple things historically different about this year ... More >>

"Christopher Street Should Have A Walk Of Fame!"

That's what one of the big winners at the Get Out magazine awards at Splash told me the other night. The Christopher Street bar Boots & Saddle won awards for its staff, its karaoke night (with lovely Victoria Chase), and other aspects as well. But owner Robert Ziegler deserves a special honor for ... More >>

The Normal Heart Film Casting Is Intriguing But Bizarre

​Ryan Murphy is putting together a stellar cast for the long awaited screen version of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, about the struggle to get recognition for AIDS as it devastated the gay community in the early days. Julia Roberts will play the lady doctor who nails the big boys with rage ... More >>

Lou Maletta, RIP

​Brooklyn-born Lou Maletta was that bearish guy in a leather harness who you'd see on TV being openly gay, openly fetishy, and openly himself. In 1982, he founded the Gay Cable Network (and hosted Men in Films), which carried on for 18 years, growing from unabashed erotica obsessing to AIDS c ... More >>

Larry Kramer Says Gay Marriage Is An Embarrassment

David Shankbone/Wikipedia​Larry Kramer is the longtime elder statesman slash screamer of the gay community, who's always berating LGBTs--and the world--for taking crumbs of acceptance without fighting for true equality. And he's usually right. The Normal Heart author is appalled that so muc ... More >>

I Know Which Two Gays Should Marry!

​Each other, I mean. Now that the smoke has cleared and the right to same-sex marriage has historically been approved in New York state, I honestly feel two famous older gays should bury the hatchet in a giant wedding cake and scoop up lots of creamy filling. And they should do that after th ... More >>

AIDS In Oral History - Looking Back at 30 Years of the Epidemic (VIDEO)

​This past Pride Week has marked some amazing events, from passage of Marriage Equality in New York, to a President ducking that issue while visiting the city, to that same President marking National HIV Testing Day and preparing to host a White House Pride reception. This Pride also marks ... More >>

'Spider-Man' Review: I'm Buggin'!

Musto's verdict on the retooled musical

Ellen Barkin On Hollywood, AIDS, and The Normal Heart

So much to talk about!

Ellen Barkin On Hollywood, AIDS, and The Normal Heart

​In the current Broadway revival of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, Ellen Barkin is doing so well she's gotten a Tony nomination and a theaterful full of used Kleenexes every night. Click here for my new column, in which Ellen tells me about this staggering production, as well as her experie ... More >>

The Normal Heart's Ad in The Times Quotes Me

​Which is good because I went wild for the powerful revival of Larry Kramer's drama about the early days of AIDS activism. Here's the ad.

Double Whammy For Ed Koch

​ Ed Koch was the mayor of New York during the early days of the AIDS crisis, but his real nightmare is actually happening right now! Two classic plays that trash his response to the crisis are being concurrently revived, to great acclaim! Firstly, Angels in America has a line in which close ... More >>

The Normal Heart Beats Still

Larry Kramer's now-classic AIDS play finds a home on Broadway

I Met The New Me!

​Isn't he special? He's Nicholas Gumas, one of the LGBT scholarship winners honored at Live Out Loud, Monday night's benefit at the TimesCenter, which raised $250,000 for their programs and activities. Nicholas is whip-smart, gave a great speech, and is much better dressed than me. Well, he ... More >>

The Normal Heart Soars: My Review

​Run to the Golden Theatre if you want to be reminded of how alive you are. You'll be moved, enraged, buzzed, and haunted. You will feel. By the end of the masterful revival of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart--directed by Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe--the audience has been put through an e ... More >>

AIDS Drama Brings Out The Big Names

​The Broadway revival of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, about the early days of the AIDS crisis, is a powerhouse which I'll tell you more about on Thursday night when it officially opens. Meanwhile, let me recap last night's reception at the theater, where I mixed with various cast members ... More >>

Malcolm X Had Gay Sex! He Joins A Historic Club!

​A new book about Malcolm X says the controversial civil rights leader had an early homosexual relationship with a white businessman, according to The New York Times. And he's not alone! Anyone with a kindle will learn of a whole bevy of historical figures who turn out to have been "that way ... More >>

'The Normal Heart Is Holding $10,000 in Marriage Equality Money Hostage'

​That's the contention of the Justinplusone blog, which addresses a pledge made by the imminent Broadway revival of Larry Kramer's powerful play about the early days of AIDS. The producers vowed to donate $10,000 to Marriage Equality, but only if 10,000 people "LIKE" the show on Facebook by i ... More >>

Larry Kramer: Streisand Is a Big Hypocrite

​Barbra Streisand released a statement about how she's been kvelling over the ruling that reversed Proposition 8, but that was yesterday. Today my mailbag shows that activist/author Larry Kramer isn't having it. Larry vividly remembers how Babs was supposed to direct a movie of his 1985 play ... More >>

President Rejects Gay Hustler!

Plus Abe Lincoln's logs and more than 15 minutes at Warhol's birthday party.

This Week in the Voice

​New Yorkers can do a lot of things other people can't: ride the Staten Island Ferry at midnight, have lunch in Central Park, etc. But we can't buy a damn bottle of wine at the grocery store. This year we had a chance to change it -- but the state's liquor stores and their lobbyists blocked it ... More >>

Sex Positive Traces Early Days of a Pandemic

You Tube Treasure: Lost Scene From Lost Horizon!

A Four Letter Word

Vulgar self-satisfaction

The Big Clean-Up

Has performance art lost its edge? Is that a bad thing? A visit to Performa 07.

Frank and Open Discussions

A visit to the land of Oz and straight talk from Rihanna and Ian Benardo, among others

'Wrestling With Angels'

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay

The 'Voice' reports the queer revolution

NY Mirror

Letters

'You Can Never Not Fight Back!'

A conversation with Larry Kramer about the current state of gay activism

AIDS Is Not Over: A Pioneering Gay Rights Activist Speaks Out

Out on the Town: How Being Queer Influences Artists' Work

Second Shots

Sondheim and Weidman hail the chief-killers; Larry Kramer uses rant to fight the plague

The Normalizing Heart

How AIDS plays have changed since Larry Kramer raged

Blind on Blind

NY Times Editors 'Inadvertently' Fail to Mention They're Promoting a TV Show the Company Produced

NY Mirror

Outing Abe

Also Adolf, Jesus, Eleanor, Robin Hood, and Other Historic Greats

The Plays What They Wrote

The Best Scripts Not Yet Mounted on a New York Stage

NY Mirror

Time Bandits

The Lavender List

Letters

Click and Learn

A new model for AIDS treatment activism