Demonstration Quote by 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.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d7e/kevin-sessums-9486_demonstration_larry-kramer-got-really-mad-at-me-once-t_2757406.jpg)
“[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.”
About This Quote
Source Memoir: I’m Not a Monster, 2010
Larry Kramer’s protest at Yale shows how activists sometimes use disruptive tactics to oppose political speeches, reflecting tension between free speech and protest.
In simple terms: Activist disruption of a political speech
Key Takeaway
Balance protest with respect for speech venues
Themes
activism
free speech
conflict
Mood
tense
critical
Type
political
historical
When to use this quote
- college campuses
- public demonstrations
- media coverage
Key Concepts
Civil disobedience
political protest
Questions to Reflect On
- When is disruption justified?
- How to protest without silencing dialogue?
A Different Perspective
Disruption can alienate potential allies
![“[Larry Kramer] thinks Charles de Gaulle was gay. He thinks Max Schmeling was gay.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/045/kevin-sessums-9486_gay_larry-kramer-thinks-charles-de-gaulle-wa_160828.jpg)
![“Those people are seen, I assume, by Larry [Kramer] as writing partly about gay issues and problems, whether it's on the surface or not, and I am not. But another thing is when we met, there still wasn't exactly a gay/straight divide in the minds of a lot of straight people. There weren't any gay…” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c72/kevin-sessums-9486_assuming_those-people-are-seen-i-assume-by-larry_2072553.jpg)
![“I talked to [Larry] Kramer a little bit about it while I was writing 'Remembering Denny' . Denny was one of those people who took a long time to come out.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/2b7/kevin-sessums-9486_bits_i-talked-to-larry-kramer-a-little-bit-ab_1890296.jpg)
![“I could appear in this million-word book [Larry Kramer] are working on. Nobody would even notice me.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/866/kevin-sessums-9486_book_i-could-appear-in-this-million-word-book_1774662.jpg)
![“[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…” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d09/kevin-sessums-9486_aids_larry-kramer-even-wrote-this-angry-lette_1749225.jpg)
![“Tony Kushner has said that Larry [Kramer] thinks everyone always has to agree with him.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f18/kevin-sessums-9486_agree_tony-kushner-has-said-that-larry-kramer_1596584.jpg)
![“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…” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cb5/kevin-sessums-9486_backgrounds_there-was-a-yale-even-before-larry-krame_1415214.jpg)
![“When I graduated [from Yale], I went back to Larry [Kramer]. But when I go to Yale reunions, there are still people who call me David.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a47/kevin-sessums-9486_call-me_when-i-graduated-from-yale-i-went-back-t_1108157.jpg)
![“Everyone disappoints [Larry Kramer]. So it's not a problem for him either way.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0f6/kevin-sessums-9486_disappoint_everyone-disappoints-larry-kramer-so-it_1039120.jpg)
![“Larry [Kramer] had already experienced so much loss by then from the AIDS epidemic. But I don't think it changed anything between us.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f84/kevin-sessums-9486_aids_larry-kramer-had-already-experienced-so_824073.jpg)
![“I wrote an essay too, and mine started something like, "When I was asked to contribute to this book, I said, 'I could do a piece on [Larry] Kramer as a pain in the ass, but I suppose you have too many of those, as it is.'" And Sarah's began something like, "When I read about America's angriest…” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/259/kevin-sessums-9486_activist_i-wrote-an-essay-too-and-mine-started-so_727114.jpg)
![“I believe we really became friends [with Larry Kramer] when we bonded at our fifteenth class reunion in 1972.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/68c/kevin-sessums-9486_believe_i-believe-we-really-became-friends-with_642749.jpg)
![“We didn't know each other [with Larry Kramer at Yale], but we had a lot of mutual friends.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/efb/kevin-sessums-9486_friends_we-didn-t-know-each-other-with-larry-kra_608949.jpg)
![“Larry [Kramer] and I often disagree. There was the whole meshuggaas we went through about his donating his papers to Yale, and I disagreed with him on a number of things about that. You wanted a gay center.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b54/kevin-sessums-9486_disagree_larry-kramer-and-i-often-disagree-there_2722593.jpg)
![“[Calvin Trilllin] is not writing about things that I can criticize. I can call these other people out for what I think they are not doing. There's a big difference.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d59/kevin-sessums-9486_bigs_calvin-trilllin-is-not-writing-about-thi_59424.jpg)
![“Sometimes if I am walking down the street and thinking about my panoply of God, Ganesha, Parvati [Ganesha's mother], I say "Lucifer," because he belongs in that panoply. I miss him. That's why I'm a theist.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b00/kevin-sessums-9486_ifs_sometimes-if-i-am-walking-down-the-stree_338066.jpg)
![“I just so desperately wanted to be published in New Yorker, and I'd so desperately try to get something in it. But I'd always get nice letters back telling me that Mr. Shawn [William Shawn, the New Yorker's editor from 1952 to 1987] just didn't like this or didn't like that about what I submitted.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/042/kevin-sessums-9486_editors_i-just-so-desperately-wanted-to-be-publi_606050.jpg)
![“David Remnick [the New Yorker's editor in chief]is about as interested in anything gay as I am interested in anything to do with baseball. It drives me nuts.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/eae/kevin-sessums-9486_baseball_david-remnick-the-new-yorker-s-editor-in_636097.jpg)
![“One of the few nice things about [time in Yale] was you got to know people before there were labels on them, so you got to know them as people, not as either gay or straight. Because as far as we knew, we thought everyone was straight.” quote by Kevin Sessums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3ca/kevin-sessums-9486_gay_one-of-the-few-nice-things-about-time-in_687609.jpg)
![“We see it [the as-yet unseen, probable new planet, Neptune] as Columbus saw America from the coast of Spain. Its movements have been felt, trembling along the far-reaching line of our analysis with a certainty hardly inferior to that of ocular demonstration.” quote by William Herschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/44b/william-herschel-28349_america_we-see-it-the-as-yet-unseen-probable-new_93769.jpg)