Radicals | New York features some of today’s leading LGBTQ activists, educators and commentators. From gay history and identity to awareness and sexual health, Radicals honors those who strive to make a difference through their work, provoking thought and demanding change. Featuring legendary writer and activist Larry Kramer, along with writer and editor, J. Bryan Lowder, and educator Damon Jacobs.

Larry Kramer is a distinguished American playwright and LGBT rights activist. He has won an Oscar nomination, two Obie Awards, the American Academy of Arts Award in Literature, and is a Pulitzer Award finalist. He also won two Tonys and an Emmy for the TV movie, The Normal Heart. As one of the most dynamic and influential forces for political activism, gay rights, public health policy, and AIDS-awareness, Larry is a widely-recognizable and remarkable speaker on these crucial issues.

Larry is renowned for both his literary achievements and political activism. At the root of both is his life-long commitment to criticizing and correcting gay apathy and government and social indifference to AIDS. He is a founder of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an AIDS service organization, and ACT UP, a widely effective direct action AIDS advocacy group. Larry’s most acclaimed plays include The Normal Heart (1985) and the Pulitzer Prize-finalist The Destiny of Me (1992). His screenplay for Women in Love was nominated for an Academy Award in 1969. He is also well-known for his influential novel Faggots (1978), a confrontational portrayal of gay culture, and his critical essay about the AIDS crisis, “1,112 and Counting” (1983).

Larry has also written the plays Sissie’s Scrapbook, A Minor Dark Age, and Just Say No, A Play about Farce. His other books are The Tragedy of Today’s Gays and Reports From the Holocaust: The Story of an AIDS Activist.

The recent Broadway revival of The Normal Heart was nominated for five Tonys and won three, including Best Play. The film version stars Mark Ruffalo and Julia Roberts and premiered in May 2014.

Larry earned his B.A. in English from Yale University. They have also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. For the past three decades he has been researching American history and the cause of AIDS/HIVS for his novel The American People—the first volume was released in April 2015. He lives in New York City.

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J. Bryan Lowder is an Associate Editor at Slate, where he has written and edited since 2011. He co-founded the magazine’s award-winning LGBTQ vertical, Outward, in 2013, which he continues to edit and write for regularly. Beyond the queer beat, he frequently contributes elsewhere in Slate, particularly to the culture and lifestyle sections, as well as to the magazine’s podcast, video, and live event operations. Lowder is a graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, where he focused on cultural reporting and criticism. He lives in Harlem with his partner Charles McDonald and their cats Pieces and Suite—named for the two best gay bars in New York.

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Damon L. Jacobs is a New York based Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and HIV prevention specialist who focuses his work on health, social justice, and pleasure. He is best known for championing the use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) through his work in media including MSNBC, NPR, Vice TV, Here! TV, as well as New York Times, USA Today, Out Magazine, and many more.

He is featured as one of 35 “Leading HIV Activists” by The Advocate Magazine, and one of the Twelve “Influential Voices in HIV/AIDS for 2015” by Healthline Magazine. Damon recently spoke at The 2015 CDC National HIV Prevention Conference, The 2015 International AIDS Society Conference (IAS), The 2015 Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), 2014 Funders Concerned About AIDS (FCAA) [Part 18:20-38:40], 5th Annual NYS Transgender Health Conference, 2015 European AIDS Treatment Group Conference, Albany Medical Center, Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), New York University (NYU) as well New York State Health Department Of Health (NYS DOH) Trainings.