Where have all the gay white males gone?

I stood beside ACT-UP founder Larry Kramer and asked him pointedly, “Larry, where do you think all the middle-class gay white boys are today?” He completely ignored me. He remained expressionless as he slowly marched forward. Two of his GWM handlers instantly perked up and said, “We’re here!” I wasn’t about to press the surprisingly frail-looking gay icon. Still, the question burned in my mind.

The 20th anniversary of ACT-UP, with its massive March 29 demonstration in Manhattan, promised to be a true milestone, injecting much-needed vitality into a now-weary organization. I expected, boarding the bus at Broad and Walnut streets in Philadelphia, to see an inspiring array of old and new faces. Instead, I faced a small group of about 20 African Americans, a completely different face than that of ACT-UP even 10 years ago, when I was an active member. It was great to see people of color representing themselves, and they were certainly capable of making their voices heard. I knew the old-timers were still alive and kicking. But where were they?

The question became only more vexing once we arrived at the staging area outside the Federal Building in Lower Manhattan. About 800 very-animated people gathered before we marched off, the majority of them people of color. Kramer spoke passionately beforehand, though never addressing how dramatically the face of the AIDS movement had changed racially, ethnically and socio-economically.

These were the Emperor’s New Clothes and no one was questioning. No one seems to want to address the issues of race or class in America, though one might think that assertive, progressive, socially conscious GLBT people would. My question now became infused with anger.

In front of the New York Stock Exchange, a photographer was taking shots of a small group of white men chanting vintage slogans. I knew the march was represented overwhelmingly by people of color, but would the media reflect that fact? Sure enough, in the next day’s edition of New York Newsday, the only photo was that of a few white demonstrators lying in the street, awaiting arrest.

I saw reporter Andy Humm (Gay USA, Gay City News) chatting with ACT-UP veteran Eric Sawyer. I asked Humm where he thought the white men were. No answer. I speculated that perhaps those with healthcare and prescription plans took the new drugs of 12 years ago and ran. Sawyer conceded this might have been the case for some, and then he quickly ran to the side of yet another reporter. Now, having cornered Andy, I lost control of my faggot temper. “Where is their solidarity, compassion? How valuable might the experiences of original ACT-UP members be to the new face of the movement?” The reporter took copious notes and offered no answers.

Granted, one has to allow for the burnout factor (and the fact that the movement no longer has the media-sexiness of previous years). Those early years were tumultuous and exhausting. However, plenty of time has since passed for the early activists to become refreshed. I asked my friend Bill Whiting my now oft-repeated question about the missing Caucasians. He said, “Where ... indeed? Dead, scared, lazy, addicted or simply in hiding?” All are possible. Yet, I see an abundance of apparently healthy GWMs at gyms, bars/clubs, shopping, cruising online and in the pages of gay media.

Certainly by now my subtext is clear. Gay white men and women — myself included — must rejoin the AIDS activist movement.

HIV is still the same virus, and it transcends race, class and gender. The new focus of ACT-UP is an intensive campaign for single-payer, universal healthcare. This surely should have universal support and deserves the active, visible participation of everyone in the GLBT community for a new surge, in an all-inclusive activism, to be sustained.

David F. Powell is a Philadelphia-based teacher, activist and perpetual grad student. He can be reached at dfpowell@talk21.com.