Even though I think PRIDE should be celebrated and honored 24/7/365, I wanted to take some time during PRIDE month this year to talk about Keith Haring – especially in this time when the LGBTQ+ community is increasingly under attack.
I don’t intend for this blog to be a biography of Keith Haring. He is the subject of one of the PBS American Masters episodes that will give you many details of his background; I highly recommend it.
I want to talk about Keith Haring as activist, and this telling will involve a bit of a history lesson for some context. In the early 1980s (specifically 1981), gay men began to get sick and die in increasingly large numbers. Because this illness involved this community, there was a healthy dose of “chickens coming home to roost because of a sinful life” in culture, society, and in the federal government. There are cringe-worthy snippets of White House press conferences you can hear during that time of mainly white heterosexual men laughing and making jokes about what was going on. Meanwhile, people were dying, and little to no government intervention, research, etc. was going on because, in a nutshell, our government felt like these victims were getting what they deserved.
Keith Haring was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987; the arts and creative community was devastated by this disease. However, they were no longer going to be silent about being ignored or being treated as pariahs. So, ACT UP NY End AIDS! was born to direct action, demand substantial research & treatment, and to advocate. Keith Haring did what he knew to do with the time he had left. Examples of the art he created can be seen here. He publicly protested and was willing to subject himself to arrest. At the time of his diagnosis, AIDS was a death sentence. I don’t know if I would’ve had the courage to do much of anything except stay in my house, be angry & afraid, and wait to die. Keith’s purpose was to make art & creativity accessible to the people, and he knew that he needed and wanted to reach the people no matter his personal circumstance.
The Reagan administration only began to openly discuss the disease and the need to further research for a cure or at least make it a chronic condition that was treated with medication & no longer a death sentence when someone THEY cared about it died from it; Rock Hudson died of AIDS in 1985. While Rock Hudson kept secret his relationships and illness out of fear for being shunned in Hollywood, keeping secrets was not part of Keith Haring’s vocabulary.
Keith Haring died of AIDS-related complications in 1990 at age 31. His art is still with us and will be with us forever as a reminder to speak up and advocate the best we can for those we love no matter their health, their position in society, who they choose to love, etc. Just think what he could’ve accomplished and created had he lived longer, but he spent his short time on this planet to change lives for the better.
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