SEXTANT: masculinities, sexualities & decolonialities

ABSTRACT

In the 1980s, the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in the United States was met with widespread indifference by the government and mainstream media. Theatre, however, was unique in its quick response to the crisis, offering a space for emotional catharsis for audiences. One of the first plays to achieve mainstream success was The Normal Heart (1985) by AIDS activist Larry Kramer. This article responds to Kramer’s play, his use of polemics as a dramatic style, and the tensions between Kramer’s beliefs, as exposed in the play, and those of the Gay Liberation movement, with whom he had previously clashed. The article argues that Kramer’s rhetoric is regressive rather than radical regarding queer sexual expression. I will also analyse Randy Shilts’ 1987 book And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic to demonstrate that Kramer’s anti-sex beliefs were not unique in certain pockets of the queer community of the 1980s.

KEY WOrDS

AIDS; queer theatre, polemics; The Normal Heart; assimilation; moralism

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