Elizabeth Taylor, star of stage, screen, and lore, knew what all the baddest b*tches know: if you want something done, you have to do it yourself. As a lifelong friend of gay actors Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson, Taylor was a fierce advocate for the men Hollywood treated like second-class citizens at the end of the studio system years. And when the AIDS crisis started, she was one of the first mainstream voices to advocate for greater awareness and government intervention, as well as basic care for PLWH.

Related
Here’s what Chappell Roan and Freddie Mercury have in common

Perhaps no clip illustrates this better than this snippet of Taylor on CSPAN in the 1980s.

First of all, that “b*tch?” line reading is iconic. Of course it is. This is an acclaimed actress we’re talking about! Secondly, good for her!

Taylor—the subject of a new documentary on Max—cofounded The Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR) in 1985. Before that, she hosted a dinner that raised 1.3 million for the AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA.) She wouldn’t stay silent about her friends who had already died, and she wouldn’t let her living friends go on suffering in silence.

“If it weren’t for homosexuals, there would be no culture,” Taylor once said. “The idea that God should choose his children [to suffer]—his geniuses to whom he had given the talent to make it a different, more beautiful place for us mere mortals—made me so angry.”

Related
Remembering the heartbreaking story behind Princess Di’s visit to the AIDS ward

As it should. The infamous “b*tch do something” clip was something of a call to arms. Rather than act the part of a remote, inaccessible grande dame of old Hollywood, she used her fame and privilege for good. She was hands-on at amFAR, often butting heads with others at the organization who wanted to prioritize finding cures over helping current AIDS patients with food and housing. She visited the Coming Home Hospice in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro district and offered to help patients with whatever they needed, from letters written home to dog walks for their pets, to physical affection and laughter. She spent time on the ground of these wards, and encouraged doctors and nurses not to wear unnecessary layers of PPE or abstain from touching the patients who had been treated for so long like lepers.

Taylor, along with Princess Diana, honored her commitment to the people in these hospitals, and made sure they were treated like human beings. But she still didn’t feel she’d done enough.

“When she was becoming an AIDS activist,” writes one of Taylor’s biographers, Kate Andersen Brower, “she would come to D.C., she would give these old senators, mostly older white men, lavender-scented stationery with personal notes, and they would take it out on the floor of the Senate and show it off to each other. But it was all just to get money for AIDS.”

That attitude of “b*tch do something” never left her, and it’s an energy we should all be harnessing right about now as the 2024 election looms.

Remember: It’s never to late to b*tch do something yourself.

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock our articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Once Monthly Annually

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated