The AIDS quilt’s continuing work

The quilt continues to be added to today as AIDS is still an issue all around the world and was used as recently as July 2012 when the International AIDS conference was in America for the first time since 1990. President Barrack Obama has increased funding into scientific research in an attempt to combat and eradicate AIDS in America with the goal of treating 6 million people by the end of 2013. (Whitehouse, 2012) The quilt was on display at the White House on this very important day to represent those who had lost their lives and with the aim of minimising as many more facing the same fate through better investments in resources. However despite this effort to ensure an AIDS free America in the near future many remain skeptical as to Obama’s commitment after he failed to attend the International conference despite pressure from activist groups. (The Washington Times, 2012) Activist groups are still as prominent in America now as they were prior to the AIDS outbreak, as they not only fight for the end of AIDS but they continue in an ongoing battle for equality and acceptance. LGBT couples face a constant battle regarding the allowance and acceptance of gay marriages across America as well as same sex parenting. In December 2012 there was a turning point when the U.S Supreme Court agreed to hear two gay marriage cases (The Denver Post, 2012), whilst this may not seem like a big deal the Denver post points out the overwhelming rejection of gay marriage in the U.S.

Nine states and the District of Columbia currently allow same-sex marriage, which leaves 41 states that don’t. Of those that do not, 30 have gay marriage bans written into their constitutions, as Colorado does.

This hearing in the Supreme Court makes it clear that LGBT issues are slow to be accepted in the U.S. The Aids Quilt provides a stark reminder not only of the extent of the gay community but to what lengths they are willing to go to through both craftivism and activism to achieve equality.

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Bringing AIDS to the attention of Reagan

Gay men faced particular trials during the years Reagan was in charge, the first ever case of AIDS was in 1981 and rapidly it became clear that it was spreading. ‘Those infected initially with this mysterious disease — all gay men — found themselves targeted with an unprecedented level of mean-spirited hostility.’ This was due to the concerns of this becoming a national health crisis. However, Reagan had caused such a deficit in funds there was no money to give to health care in order to try and stop the spread of the disease although those in medical and scientific positions were deeply concerned at the rate at which it was spreading. As a consequence this led to the deaths of thousands of gay men.

 AIDS casualties multiplied rapidly throughout the 1980s; in 1981, the mortality rate was 225, jumping to 1,400 by 1983, 15,000 by 1985, 40,000 by 1987, and over 100,000 by 1990.6 The great majority of these deaths were young men between the ages 25 and 44.7 The disease spread rapidly within urban centres, most notably New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. After the mid-1980s, however, the disease had made its way to other North American cities and rural areas (Murray, H. 2008).

 The response of Reagan was to do nothing, this clearly took its toll as thousands of men died from the disease due to this lack of funding. It was not until May of 1987 that Reagan first addressed the issue of AIDS in public. As a consequence of this bad political management it is easy to see why so many gay men turned to activist techniques to try and draw attention to the national crisis. The realisation of the AIDS crisis by Jones in 1985, and its large-scale response was provoked by the entire nations concern of issue at hand. This is proof of how a visual and material object brought not just a community together, but the entire nation. As people learnt of the crisis and had it stare them in the face with the AIDS quilt they had no choice but to discuss the problem at hand and how to deal with it, with growing concerns of the disease spreading through blood transfusions people were unsure of where they stood or how to respond. Gay activist groups tried tirelessly to raise the issue of AIDS openly with the government, including trying to smoke Reagan out as it were, by creating posters with the face of Reagan, bearing the slogan “What if your son gets sick?”, (Murray, H, 2008) These were the posters which formed a street protest by an activist group called ACT UP, a street theatre group. Their posters aimed to remind Reagan and others that all those dying from AIDS were someone’s child and would he want to go through that? It was essential for these examples of gay activism to take place in order to provoke a rise in social consciousness about AIDS, ensuring Milk’s ambition of raising awareness to gay issues was fulfilled. The fact that the AIDS quilt occurred at such a crucial point for gay rights suggests that it had a lot to do with Reagan finally discussing the issue publicly, once everyone was so aware and concerned he had no choice. In the October of 1987 the quilt in its entirety to date went on show in Washington D.C. on the National Mall, coinciding with the National march of Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. After a large turnout the quilt went on tour for four moths raising around $500,000 (The NAMES Project Foundation, 2010).

The Beginning of the AIDS quilt and its powerful history

The AIDS quilt came about through a significant turning point in both politics and society for people who classed themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT) as more and more activists protested for an end to discrimination. Starting in 1977 in America, only 4 years before Reagan came to office, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected in to office as a San Francisco City-County Supervisor. (Milk foundation, n.d.) Milk was widely respected and admired as he provided hope and inspiration not only for the LGBT communities but also spoke out on behalf of other segregated communities and groups. A key event during Milk’s upstanding was the defeat of a Californian Ballot Initiative which sort to consent the dismissal of gay teachers in the states public schools. Milk had the bid declined through gay pride marches in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as the LGBT community stood behind him, this is today seen as a key event during the fight for gay rights as at the same time other mandates were being passed, enabling discrimination against gays all around the country. However in 1978, Milk was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone, by a former city Supervisor. When their assassin was let off with a light sentence for manslaughter the day before what would have been Milk’s birthday mass riots were sparked in what is now known as the White Night Riots, which was a far cry from the silent candle lit march which went through Castro the night of his assassination. The riots saw large-scale violence,

Enraged citizens stormed City Hall and rows of police cars were set on fire. The city suffered property damage and police officers retaliated by raiding the Castro, vandalizing gay businesses and beating people on the street (Milk Foundation, n.d.).

It could be argued that this retaliation by the LGBT citizens of Castro compromised all of Milks hard work, however during one of Milk’s many speeches in his year of being supervisor saw him encourage LGBT’s to stand up for themselves in order to enforce equality around America.

“Gay people, we will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets. … We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I’m going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about it. You must come out.” (Milk Foundation, n.d.)

Milks activist approach to the government and politics, along with his open views on LGBT matters encouraged this community to pull together and be heard as one loud voice, rather than individual voices which could be ignored by leadership figureheads. Though the White Night Riots may have fueled the governments ability to push for discrimination the words of Milk would not be forgotten and LGBT’s would continue to use activism to push for an end to discrimination (Milk Foundation, n.d.)

Crucially in 1987 San Francisco chronicle journalist Randy Shilts published a book titles ‘And the Band Played on: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic’, which forced the society and politicians to stop and take notice of what was seen as a mysterious and unmentionable disease. Upon reflection of the book after Shilts died of AIDS in 1994 stated, “But Randy’s contribution was so crucial. He broke through society’s denial and was absolutely critical to communicating the reality of AIDS.” (Smith, D 1994) Shilts forced the topic of AIDS upon society, making them understand its severity and consequences.

Between the death of Milk and the publication not only of this book but newspaper articles by Shilts, brought gay rights to the forefront of American politics and paved the way for the AIDS Quilt to be formed. Inspired by the activist actions of these two motivational characters many LGBT’s were encouraged to carry out activist actions in order to be heard and enforce public attention. The Aids quilt defines its purpose, as ‘The mission of the NAMES Project Foundation is to preserve, care for and use the AIDS Memorial Quilt to foster healing, heighten awareness, and inspire action in the age of AIDS.’ (The NAMES Project Foundation, 2010) The quilt was formed as a result of an activist stand by a San Francisco gay rights activist, Cleve Jones, ever since the assassinations of Milk and Moscone Jones has played a role in helping to organize the candlelight march which takes place in honor of these men. Whilst planning the 1985 march he learned that over 1000 San Franciscans had died from AIDS. He responded to this by asking

 ‘each of his fellow marchers to write on placards the names of friends and loved ones who had died of AIDS. At the end of the march, Jones and others stood on ladders taping these placards to the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building. The wall of names looked like a patchwork quilt.’ (The NAMES Project Foundation, 2010)

After this demonstration of respect, reflection and great sadness the comments that the wall looked like a patchwork quilt thus became the inspiration that would form the start of the quilt. The quilt is still ongoing to the present day and currently consists of more than 48,000 individual panels, which total 1.3 million square feet (The NAMES Project Foundation, 2010).