Cleve Jones calls for action on AIDS

Kevin Chu and Alleyna Vuong
Contributors
Cleve Jones, advisor for the  critically acclaimed 2008 film Milk, arrived at York University as a guest speaker on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011 for an “Xpressions against Oppression” talk.
Inside the Accolade East Building’s Price Family Cinema, the 500 seats were almost all filled. The atmosphere was tempered – hushed chattering, laptops opened and papers and pens out. The audience was more than excited.

Like any good show, there’s always an opening act, and this event was no different. At 6:30 p.m., a thin, blonde 21-year-old male stood in front of the room, bringing it to silence. Alastair Woods, external coordinator for York’s TBLGAY student group, began to talk about his “coming out” story and the support he received from his family and friends – and the ignorance of others.
Woods spoke of the recent news stories of gay bullying, and then introduced Cleve Jones.
Jones, 56, started off the evening with his own coming out story.
“I was an itty bitty baby homosexual,” he recalled. Jones, originally from Indiana, had no problem being open – and humorously so – about his past, throwing in anecdotes from time-to-time about the “beautiful boys” he would see growing up.
Jones first learned about the movement for gay rights in 1971, after picking up a Life magazine with an article entitled “Homosexuals in Revolt.” The issue was about the gay community fighting back against the police. After graduating from high school, Jones left Arizona and the constant bullying he endured behind, and headed to San Francisco.
Soon after he arrived in San Francisco, he befriended gay activist Harvey Milk, and interned for him. Cleve believed that with Harvey as the face of the gay rights movements, a lot of progress could be made for gay civil rights. Tragically, on November 27, 1978 – 11 months after being the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California – Harvey Milk was shot and killed.
Hands shaking and head tilted slightly toward the room’s ceiling, Jones recalled thinking after the assassination, “It’s over.” He believed any hope the gay rights movement had died the day Milk was shot. Every year, on the anniversary of Milk’s death, Jones attends a candlelight march to remember Harvey Milk’s
accomplishments.
As the evening was coming to an end, Jones spoke about the rising pandemic of AIDS in the gay community. Clearly frustrated with the lack of progress being made, Jones’ breaths became shallow as his voice began to rise, saying, “Everyone around me was dying. I couldn’t do anything. I watched as all my friends died of AIDS.”
The co-founder of San Francisco’s AIDS Foundation, Jones is committed to ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic himself. “Demand everything immediately. It’s the only way any change will come,” Jones said of the foundation’s
mandate.
Jones finished speaking and took questions from the audience that ranged from gay marriage to blood donations to strategies for social change. Hearing him speak about his own experiences apparently inspired many in attendance to continue the fight for social justice, and when they thanked him he simply replied, “Don’t thank me. I love what I do.”
He was given a well-deserved standing ovation. After the talk wrapped up at 8:30 p.m., dinner and a meet-and-greet with Jones were held at the Underground.