If you have to decide who is right, the church or gay people, gay people are always right. Even my Christian fundamentalist mother would agree, especially because she was a registered nurse in NYC during the greatest pandemic, AIDS, of our lives. I am so proud that she treated her patients with the kindness that they deserved rather than the hateful religious rhetoric that she believes. Even though I was a kid, I remember my time at the hospital watching her, a black Caribbean nurse, and the skinny patients trying to cobble together some kind of care. Because everyone was afraid, the crap work went to the black nurses, but mom believed that Jesus would protect her so she treated them and their visitors well. She was insanely busy, and never got a break. It never occurred to her to shut out some visitors because they weren’t family or because of their sexual orientation. She didn’t treat her patients differently. They were sick, dying people, and it was her job.
I started off as a kid fearing that the boogeyman would get me and trying to keep as much space between me and the infected as possible even in public spaces because initially no one knew if this virus was airborne, but we did know that it killed. Then I realized that I was ridiculous because mom was not afraid even when she got stuck with sharps at work—long before there were medical protocols to treat medical professionals exposed to the virus or the protocols existed, but not for people like her, considered disposable fodder in the fight. If Jesus could touch lepers, this AIDS virus was nothing to Him so my distance began to match hers. Thank God, she never got sick so Jesus did protect her. As I got older, the dissonance between her behavior and her beliefs was baffling, but she definitely influenced my understanding of the law and how human beings deserve to be treated equally, much to her consternation at my liberal leanings.
Watching How to Survive a Plague brought back all those memories, but reflected the perspective from the other side, the ACT UP activists, particularly the infected, trying to fight homophobic influences in the government and the medical establishment in order to push the hateful or disinterested into finding a cure before more people died. I’m guilty of calling certain movies gay or black movies, but I must disabuse myself of these reductive terms. How to Survive a Plague is one of the best documentaries that I have ever seen and provides a blueprint of the most effective methods of resistance when fighting an indifferent to a spectacularly harmful establishment that would prefer to see you dead than alive even if it would be a benefit to all of humanity.
How to Survive a Plague is a collective and individual tale of our great American forefathers and foremothers who used nonviolent activism to literally change the world and save lives. Because these activists came from all parts of society, the corporate world, artists, scientists, spokespersons, they used their many gifts in the battle against death and indifference. The documentary uses archival footage captured by the news or the artist activists to chronicle the most pivotal moments in this resistance. It also evokes the sense of urgency of this time—they were fighting because they thought they were going to die, and that they already lost yet instead of sinking into despair or futility, they struck back with anger, visibility and creativity.
How to Survive a Plague showed that they were able to fight on all fronts until someone listened to and was willing to work with them by making them a part of the decision making process. They protested on the municipal, state and federal level, in hospitals, corporations, conferences, churches, at politicians’ homes. Instead of being concerned with respectability or public image, their protests emphasized who they are, and they were never willing to compromise to conservative elements that wanted them to say, “I’m not gay no more.” Have the money to cover any inadvertent damage, but don’t disappear. They don’t want you to exist. Remain visible and make everyone visible: people of color, women, etc.
How to Survive a Plague reveals that no one has a plan, including the experts who want to help, so if you want to live, and you do not have the expertise, you better get the expertise, make a plan and demand a seat at the table. Make the effective but illegal, underground market become legal and become a part of the establishment. There will be mistakes, but as long as malice is not involved, never give up, cheer each other up and keep on trying new things. Learn from those mistakes and don’t be afraid to adopt the establishment’s criteria if it is actually effective and beneficial. Activists had to become scientists, medical professionals and guinea pigs. Expect to die, but do it so others won’t. Care about the future. Until you’re dead, there are no days off.
How to Survive a Plague shows that unity is not a given, and eventually there will be dissent. If the dissenter is the most vulnerable, listen to them and continue to welcome them when they return. This is how the Treatment Action Group eventually came into existence. If the dissenter is not, curse them out as Larry Kramer did and remind them that the priority is to stop death.
By the end of How to Survive a Plague, if you are not crying with relief and joy at discovering who survived and frustration and anger at the waste for those who did not, you may not be a human being. I actually watched the documentary two times in a row to fully appreciate the individuals who literally saved the world and unexpectedly themselves. The ultimate lesson of this documentary is to act with the same sense of urgency for the most vulnerable around you as if it is your life on the line because it actually is.