William F. Buckley has finally followed his wife Pat into the great beyond. Here he is being called a "crypto-Nazi" by Gore Vidal. Buckley follows suit by threatening violence against Vidal:
Decades later, I spearheaded a subgroup of ACT UP to form ACTUX (The AIDS Coalition To Undermine Excess). We protested at a lavish "Skating for Life" AIDS benefit which Pat Buckley co-chaired. Conveniently, the first offices of OutWeek were directly across the street from the entrance to the 20th St. Armory, where the benefit was being held.
Oh, there was also a two-story banner hung from the Outweek office roof which was made by me and one of the ACT UP Swim Team hunks. I've got a picture of it somewhere. It was also documented in The Village Voice by Michael Musto. I think it's in his book. Not sure. It was definitely seen by some as one of the organization's more misguided of demonstrations.
Despite the paranoid rumor-mongering, there were never any plans to "toss blood on the ice" or assault anyone. What we simply did was hand out flyers pointing out the Buckleys' hypocrisy in having Bill suggest that PWAs be tattooed and quarantined, while Pat softened the blow by raising money at benefits. Bill editorialized the foundations of conservative insolence toward the oppressed, while Pat tossed them crumbs from her benefits' proceeds.
You can read some fictionalized versions of all these people and events in my second novel, Monkey Suits.
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