The Gay Blade

Published in 1978, Larry Kramer's "Faggots" is still one of the Great Gay Books, and every young homo should read it. As we are so often reminded, how can we know where we are going if we don't know where we're coming from?                   'The novel does describe a certain kind of social behaviour, but it is not      recommended for lovers of Jane Austen' as one reviewer put it. The book outraged so many when it was published, gay and straight, but it continues to tell a story that resonates. It's outrageous in so many ways, hilarious, edgy still, and has a lot to say to the world of gay men today I reckon. One of my oldest friends gave it to me in 1979, when I was 18, and I still have that copy. At 18, I was too young to understand what he was saying, and I was bewildered by it then. Now I think it's a masterpiece. Kramer today can't be spoken of without thinking of his AIDS activism. He drove the founding of both the ...

  As a gay man I look at the tragedy that has occurred in Orlando and am struck dumb with grief. This was a pre-meditated attack, an act of unbridled hatred, against people simply because, like me, they were born different. This is as stupid as killing people for being left-handed or having green eyes. I’ve been trying to understand why it has shaken me and so many of my friends so deeply. It is because we are so used to living with fear, we are so used to the little put-downs so often described as “jokes”. So many of us were bullied at school and rejected by our families that we don’t trust the world around us easily. We know that we are inviting verbal abuse and the danger of physical attack if we walk around holding our loved one’s hand or kissing in public. We know to check and not behave in a way that is “too gay” if we’re out on the street at night, especially if you’re on your own. We know we are at risk, and what this foul act of terror in Orlando has done is ...