the normal heart to shoot next summer

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actor mark ruffalo is ready to begin shooting for a film playing a gay, jewish, activist this coming summer. glee creator ryan murphy will be adapting and producing larry kramer‘s semi-autobiographical play, the normal heart for the big screen.

instead of being ignored and dismissed by the government, his family and the world while his friends and community died of what people at the time were calling the gay cancer larry kramer took infamous, direct and couragous action in the early 1980’s. this is the premise of the normal heart where the jewish gay activist, ned weeks, portrays larry kramers life and work. 

larry kramer who co-founded the gay men’s health crisis (gmhc) and later the aids coalition to unleash power (act up) in 1987 witnessed the unfolding of the aids crisis in nyc. his life work has changed the way lgbt people look at the world and how the world looks at us as queers ready to take action whenever and however we are marginalized.

among the jewish lgbt heros of mine that have written on larry kramers life and work, from playwright tony kushner to all that was brilliant, susan sontag z”l, it is often mentioned how the beginings of the holocaust in 1933 shaped his perspective on the urgency of people-powered action and how the complicated yet loving relationship with his brother arthur fueled his struggle against marginalization.

i look forward to seeing what kinds of activism can find its fuel in the lessons of this story.