To some Larry Kramer is best known as a playwright who created the likes of The Normal Heart about the early days of the AIDS crisis, to others he’s the author of the controversial novel Faggots, while to many he’s best know for his AIDS activism, helping set up organisations such as the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP.
Now the Tony Awards has decided to honour 77-year-old Karmer, offering him the Isabelle Stevenson Award as part of the 2013 ceremony, which takes place on June 9th. The gong, named after a former president of the American Theater Wing, recognises a theatre practitioner who’s made significant contributions to humanitarian or charitable causes.
Kramer was at the forefront of the AIDS battle in the 1980s – few histories of that time fail to mention him – fighting to ensure the US government approved drugs that could help, in the face of bureaucratic apathy and a President who simply didn’t seem to care. Since then he had taken up other gay rights battles and never shied away from a fight he though was worth taking one.
A restaging of The Normal Heart in 2011 won three Tony Awards, including Best Revival, and is now being made into a movie by Glee creator Ryan Murphy, with the likes of Julia Roberts, Taylor Kitsch, Matt Bomer, Mark Ruffalo and Jim Parsons set to star.
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