“There was a Yale even before Larry [Kramer] and I got there, and there were three designations of students: "white shoe," "brown shoe," and "black shoe." "White shoe" people were kind of the ur-preppies from high-class backgrounds. "Brown shoe" people were kind of the high school student-council presidents who were snatched up and brushed up a little bit to be sent out into the world. "Black shoe" people were beyond the pale. They were chemistry majors and things like that.” PeopleWorldKindLittlesSchoolThreeBitsBlackPresidentWhiteClassStudentsMajorsLittle BitHigh SchoolShoesBackgroundsBrownChemistryPaleCouncilLarryYaleDesignationHigh School StudentsKramerHigh ClassWhite ShoesStudent Council Author:Kevin Sessums
“[Robert Gottlieb] wouldn't have published 'Remembering Denny' . Denny was a Rhodes Scholar. He was on the swimming team. Had this great California crew cut and this great smile. Life magazine covered his graduation, and Alfred Eisenstaedt photographed it. We all expected him to be president some day. But he committed suicide when he was in his 50s. If he were gay in the 1950s, then the rest of what I wrote was commentary because life was so miserable for gay men back then. And that's why he committed suicide.” IfsMenRememberPresidentCuttingTeamGaySuicideCommittedExpectedMagazinesMiserableCaliforniaCoveredSwimmingScholarCrewCommentaryGay MenSwim Team Author:Kevin Sessums
“My father always wanted me to be president of the United States, and his fallback position was that I not become a ward of the county. I think my father was okay about my going into journalism, though.” ThinkingStatesWantedFatherPresidentUnitedUnited StatesPositionOkayJournalismCounty Author:Kevin Sessums
“[Larry Kramer] got really mad at me once. The precipitating incident was a speech at Yale by the first President Bush's Secretary of Heath and Human Services, Louis Sullivan, against which Larry led a demonstration. He got the demonstrators to drown out Sullivan's speech, which wasn't allowed.” FirstsHumansPresidentSpeechMadSecretaryIncidentsPresident BushDemonstrationLarryYaleKramerHuman Service Author:Kevin Sessums
“[Larry Kramer] even wrote this angry letter to the president of Yale, and in it he said what he said to us, that he was so disappointed in his straight friends because of AIDS and everything. He wrote the letter around March. And in it he wrote, "I usually go to the Trillins for Christmas, but I just couldn't do it this year."” YearsSaidPresidentLettersAngryAidsMarchDisappointedLarryYaleKramer Author:Kevin Sessums
