Anyone watch "The Normal Heart" last night?

[Puglover]

I had never seen the play and really found the HBO movie powerful. I had a rough time getting to sleep.

I was 25 at the beginning of the AIDS crisis. In the end I lost 23 friends and acquaintances. It brought back a lot of memories. Of youth. Of terror. Anger and crushing sadness.

I thought the performances especially Ruffalo's were remarkable.

[SamKnause]

1. Yes.

Ronald Reagan; does anymore need to be said ???

I enjoyed Jim Parsons performance as well as Mark Ruffalo's.

[Puglover]

2. When Reagan died

there was a huge uproar on DU. We should have "decorum" etc. etc.

I'd dress that old bastards grave with warm piss if I could.

[SamKnause]

3. I don't understand that mindset.

If you were an ass when you were alive, you are an ass when you are dead.

I am sure the same "decorum" will be shown when the evil Bush and Cheney die.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Good article about Mayor Koch and his non-reaction to the crisis

Ed Koch: 12 Years as Mayor, A Lifetime in the Closet

Ed Koch, New York’s mayor from 1978 through 1989, a period of enormous change for the LGBT movement, including the beginning and some of the worst years of the AIDS crisis, died on February 1 of congestive heart failure.

He was 88 years old and died without ever publicly acknowledging his homosexuality. And his inaction during the crucial early years of the AIDS pandemic –– which emerged in 1981 on his watch –– has never been forgiven by large numbers of gay men and others who lost so many loved ones and friends to the virus.

His life and record as a public official have been reported in great detail in the wake of his death, and he has drawn praise from many –– including some former enemies –– for embodying and even “saving” his city, but his record on LGBT issues, which was mixed, and his response to AIDS, which was deplorable, has received notably short shrift.
http://gaycitynews.com/ed-koch-12-years-as-mayor-a-lifetime-in-the-closet/

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Watching it now......had to take a Kleenex break.

Very reminescent of Randy Shilts' " And the Band Played On", both book and film.

I remember that time, it was grim, full of frustration and fear for my family members and friends.

[hlthe2b]

6. watched it today (dvr'd). Ruffalo and Matt Bomer's perfromances were Emmy caliber...

So many dead, so many forever affected and an administration that chose to handicap the response/research effort Reagan was quite a piece of work

[Amimnoch]

7. Compelling, infuriating, depressing, disheartening, and an amazing work.

I was very young when the events from the production were occurring (10 years old in '81). I think I was around 13/14 years old before I first heard of the "gay cancer" and around 14/15 when I first heard of Aids. It wasn't until I was 18 years old before I lost my first friend to HIV, and was in 1989. I have a memorial board that I keep in my home where I keep memento's/photos of people who i'd been close to or related to over the years. 17 of these people number people who have lost the battle with opportunistic infections resulting from AIDS. Most were in the early/mid- 90's.

During my coming out period in the early 90's it was a shear horror hearing all of the stories from friends/acquaintances who were already active during the early 80's. I'd already despised Reagan for what I'd heard about his inactivity during that period, this production just reinforced that feeling tremendously.

I can't even imagine what it was like to be in that period where something is killing off people that I know and love, and nobody seems to know what the hell it is that's doing it, and worse, nobody seems to care. It's painful to even try to imagine being in that kind of situation. At least, by the time I started being sexually active I was armed with the knowledge of what HIV was, how it was transmitted, and what I needed to do to prevent infection. These poor people were armed with none of that knowledge, and because it wasn't affecting the heterosexual population (that they knew of at least) nobody in power cared to do anything about it or even find out what it was.. absolutely infuriating.

[Puglover]

8. My friend Andy was the first for me.

We were in Paris on a trip and was complaining of swollen glands and diarrhea. I didn't even know what it (HIV) was. I was worried he had Hodgkin's Disease or something. This was February.

When we returned to Chicago he saw a Dr. that said he "probably had a chronic ongoing infection".

I was in Minneapolis working and got a call that I needed to get down to Chicago to see him. I did and went to the hospital. He weighed 85 pounds. The nurse told me they were sending him home. I remember saying "You can't send him home, he's too sick!" She said "We are sending him home to die." Our mutual friend Sandy passed out in the hospital hall.
This was July 31.

He died August 24th 1984. 34 years old.

He quipped to me that he had the worst time convincing his parents he was Haitian. (He was closeted.)

And that's how it began for me.

[cbayer]

9. Watched it yesterday and was flooded with memories.

It is so accurate and so moving….

and so very hard to watch.