By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

“There are many people who I loved who vanished,” said activist Cleve Jones about the early days of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. “I knew the most amazing people. Of my own circle of friends, I was the least interesting.”

Jones, who created the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, was the keynote speaker Sept. 29 at Gerber/Hart Library’s annual benefit at the Swedish-American Museum, 5211 N. Clark St. He discussed both the quilt and the changing face of the epidemic in the GLBT community.

Before his speech, Jones said he conceived the quilt while taking part in a candlelight vigil in San Francisco commemorating the death of his friend Harvey Milk. The death toll from AIDS in the city had just surpassed 1,000.

Jones and friends brought magic markers and cardboard placards to the vigil, and invited gatherers to write down the name of a loved one they’d lost. The panels were then taped to the facade of the Federal Building.

“They covered the building,” Jones said, and reminded him of panels from quilts that he had watched his grandmother and great-grandmother sew.

Two years later, the quilt was unveiled at the 1987 March on Washington. Jones was taken up on a cherry picker to look at it.

“The first time I saw it spread out, I couldn’t believe how far we’d come and how tired I was,” Jones said.

Jones was diagnosed in the early 1980s. He said that his entire social circle from back then died over the course of a year. The quilt, he said, ensures that persons with AIDS will not be forgotten and “makes a bold statement about the value of human lives.”

The project has not been without its critics over the years.

“My friends from ACT UP called it a passive memorial,” Jones said. “(But) I didn’t think of it as a memorial so much as a call to action” to understand what was happening at the time and give hope for the future, he added.

Jones said he did not know how large the quilt would be if all its panels were assembled in one place. The last time that was done was in 1996.

“It covered the entire Mall on Washington,” he added. At the time, there were 1,920 panels.

Jones currently is active in UNITE HERE!, a union of textile, restaurant and hotel workers, and is consulting on an upcoming film about Harvey Milk, which is set to star Sean Penn and be directed by Gus Van Sant.

“I don’t know who’s playing me yet,” he joked.

He is troubled by the nation’s apathy towards knowing history and is especially disturbed to see it in the gay community. Young people should be aware of history, Jones said, to give them hope.

“We’ve always existed. We’ve always managed to survive, often in the face of brutal repression. We’ve always managed to find each other, and to find love,” Jones said.