Cleve Jones
About Cleve Jones
Speech topics
Stitching a Revolution
From the 1960’s anti-war movement and the earliest days of the gay civil rights movement to his current work on behalf of textile, hotel and restaurant workers, Cleve Jones has been at the forefront of causes he believes in. Best known as the creator of the AIDS Quilt, Jones endured much skepticism and opposition when he conceived of the idea. At the time, AIDS was a taboo subject, misunderstood, feared, and sparking ostracism, isolation, and violent acts. And worst of all, there was no action from the government or medical establishment. Jones’s courage, passion and refusal to let this epidemic be ignored moved him to action, and most importantly, it brought awareness, funds and response. While the story of the quilt has inspired so many thousands of people, Jones’s presentation is about a much bigger picture. His story is about the power each person has to make a positive difference-- no matter what the issue-- and how to overcome naysayers and skeptics to speak out and take action. Consistently rated as the top speaker wherever he appears, Jones is touching, funny, authentic and relatable.
The Story of the Quilt
The History of AIDS
Diversity in the Workplace
The LGBT Revolution
Harvey Milk: The Man
Speaking videos
Media coverage
Almost 30 years later, people are still affected by the AIDS Memorial ...
LGBT activist Cleve Jones wanted to change the discourse. He wanted the nation to recognize the spread of HIV as a public health crisis. He created the AIDS ...
How one man's idea for the AIDS quilt made the country pay attention
The project was the idea of Cleve Jones, a San Francisco gay rights activist. This article is adapted from Jones's book “When We Rise: My Life in the Movement,” ...
Legendary Human Rights Leader Cleve Jones to Keynote San ...
Famed AIDS and LGBT activist Cleve Jones to deliver keynote address at the San Antonio AIDS Foundation's 30th anniversary fundraising luncheon and auc.
Books by Cleve Jones
“When We Rise: My Life in the Movement” (2016)
The partial inspiration for the acclaimed mini-series from Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black Born in 1954, Cleve Jones was among the last generation of gay Americans who grew up wondering if there were others out there like himself. There were. Like thousands of other young people, Jones, nearly penniless, was drawn in the early 1970s to San Francisco, a city electrified by progressive politics and sexual freedom. Jones found community - in the hotel rooms and ramshackle apartments shared by other young adventurers, in the city's bathhouses and gay bars like The Stud, and in the burgeoning gay district, the Castro, where a New York transplant named Harvey Milk set up a camera shop, began shouting through his bullhorn, and soon became the nation's most outspoken gay elected official. With Milk's encouragement, Jones dove into politics and found his calling in 'the movement.' When Milk was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1978, Jones took up his mentor's progressive mantle - only to see the arrival of AIDS transform his life once again. By turns tender and uproarious - and written entirely in his own words - When We Rise is Jones' account of his remarkable life. He chronicles the heartbreak of losing countless friends to AIDS, which very nearly killed him, too; his co-founding of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation during the terrifying early years of the epidemic; his conception of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the largest community art project in history; the bewitching story of 1970s San Francisco and the magnetic spell it cast for thousands of young gay people and other misfits; and the harrowing, sexy, and sometimes hilarious stories of Cleve's passionate relationships with friends and lovers during an era defined by both unprecedented freedom and possibility, and prejudice and violence alike. When We Rise is not only the story of a hero to the LQBTQ community, but the vibrantly voice memoir of a full and transformative American life - an activist whose work continues today.
“Stitching a Revolution: The Making of an Activist” (2001)
From the frontlines of one of the greatest human struggles of our time comes this powerful and moving tale. Both an important cultural history of the AIDS crisis and an intimate personal memoir, Stitching a Revolution is the story of a man who, besieged by discrimination, death, and despair, found the courage and strength of spirit to conceive and create a unique healing vision-the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Against the turbulent backdrop of politics and sexual liberation in San Francisco during the seventies, Jones recounts his coming-of-age alongside friend and mentor Harvey Milk--and, later, Milk's assassination and the ensuing riots that threatened to tear down all they had accomplished. But Jones's political aspirations were put on hold after the emergence of an insidious, unexplainable "gay cancer" that would soon become known throughout the world as AIDS. Demoralized by the tide of death and despair sweeping his community, brutally assaulted by gay-bashing thugs, and faced with the specter of his own positive diagnosis, Jones sought a way to restore hope to a world falling apart beneath his feet. What started out as a simple panel of fabric stitched for his best friend now covers a space larger than twenty-five football fields and contains over eighty thousand names. The Quilt has affected the lives of many people, bridging racial, sexual, and religious barriers to unite millions in the fight against AIDS. Stitching a Revolution is a compelling, dramatic tale with a cast of memorable characters from all walks of life. At times uplifting, at times heartwrenching, this inspiring story reveals what it means to be human and how the power of love conquers all--even death.
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