CLEVE JONES - Creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and Gay Rights Activist
| Date: | October 26, 2009 |
| Time: | 7:00pm |
| Location: | Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center, McCready Hall |
| Price: | $10.00 (free to Pacific University Students) |
| Tickets: | For tickets: Box Office (503)-352-2918. Hours 1-5 p.m., Mon. � Fri. |
| Info: | Kayla@pacificu.edu |
CLEVE JONES has recently gained renewed notoriety with the release of the film _Milk_, which features Jones in his youth as a major force in the budding gay rights movement of the late 1970s.
In 1983, when AIDS was still a new and poorly understood threat, Jones co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Jones conceived the idea of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at a candlelight memorial for Harvey Milk in 1985 and in 1987 created the first quilt panel in honor of his friend Marvin Feldman. The AIDS Memorial Quilt has grown to become the world's largest community arts project, memorializing the lives of over 85,000 Americans killed by AIDS.
When Jones created the 47,000-panel quilt that humanizes the lives of those lost to AIDS. Jones was preparing to die himself. Instead, he became one of the AIDS epidemic's earliest survivors, and a new generation of gay activists has embraced him as a mentor.
Now at 54 this gay rights "living legend" is busily planning his next act for the second week of October. He has mobilized thousands for the "National Equality March" on the nation's capital that he hopes will usher in the final era in his community's struggle for acceptance and pressure President Barack Obama to follow through on his campaign promises.
Partially taken from July 13, 2009 The Associated Press
by Lisa Leff
Sponsored by the Center for Gender Equity
