He comes bundling down the stairs smiling readily, with salt and pepper hair and a youthful glint in his eyes. Today his career actually consists of traveling around the world and talking to people about HIV and the famous AIDS quilt that he co-created. In the beginning of the epidemic, the quilt had a cathartic role, particularly for gays.
Today is different, it serves an educational role.
Newly released Stitching a Revolution tells the story of Jones's arrival in San Francisco at the age of 17 where he met Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician, and began working in politics. It was the end of the hippy era and we were doing everything for the first time. When men started to take their shirts off dancing, it was for the first time. When someone opened a gay bookstore, it was for the first time. When someone created a gay shop, it was for the first time.