Seattle Gay News
Issue 25, Volume 45, June 23, 2017
Cleve Jones is a living icon in LGBTQ activism by Neil Powers Special to the SGN Cleve Jones is a living icon in LGBTQ activism. His talk at the PrideFest Sunday night film screening of Milk at Seattle’s Egyptian Theatre June 18 shows how he continues to inspire. His life of activism was chronicled in the recent TV mini-series “When We Rise.” The series was based on his book When We Rise: My Life in the Movement. After turning 18, he hitchhiked from his Arizona childhoo home to San Francisco in 1973. He became an activist and assistant to an early gay politician, Harvey Milk of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (similar to a city councilmember). He is a founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. He continues to work for LGBTQ rights and with a labor union, UNITE-HERE. He had insights for the audience of several hundred people and those who live in “very fortunate privileged liberal bubbles.” Jones talked of seeing Milk, who was assassinated in November 1978, dead on the floor in San Francisco’s city hall. Thousands of people gathered in the streets that evening in an impromptu memorial for Milk and Mayor George Moscone who was also assassinated by former Board Supervisor Dan White. “And then the sun went down and the people began to gather in Castro Street and Market…gay and straight, black and brown and white, young and old, immigrant and native born,” he said. “We marched in the procession…and we filled Civic Center Plaza and I stood there in that lake of candle light and I knew it wasn’t over, it was just beginning!” He talked about many friends dying early in the AIDS pandemic and of getting sick himself, but later getting healthy with medication. He feels urgency about the aftermath of the 2016 federal election, addressing racism, homophobia and misogyny. He spoke with passion on the need to address what he sees as the decline of gayborhoods due to gentrification and the need for community beyond social media and Grindr. He pointed to his union efforts with hotel and restaurant workers.
Cleve Jones - Photo courtesy of myprideonline.com
“We are part of a global struggle for peace and for social justice and we take our rightful place among the ranks of all those people, all those ordinary people, so many different backgrounds...,” Jones said. “That’s what Harvey Milk was always about, I know that’s what all of you are about.” Jones has much to say for today and the future of the LGBTQ community. PrEP He urged people to consider taking PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis) for HIV prevention. “What I say to young people in particular, anybody, if you…are engaging in behavior that could possibly put you at risk for contracting HIV, then go to your doctor and get on PrEP,” he said. “For those who may not know…one drug take one pill a day, as long as you are taking it you are (at very low risk of) not able to get HIV.”
On Losing Gayborhoods and Gentrification Jones wants people to look seriously at ways for LGBTQ communities to be in close proximity to each other. “If we lose the geographic concentration that’s happening, then we lose obviously political power, the ability to elect our own, to defeat enemies, to pass legislation,” he said. “We also lose the cultural vitality that happens when we are in the city space.” He talked of how he has seen the African American community decline from 16 percent of San Francisco’s population in the ’70s to about three percent of the city’s population. He described living in a rent-controlled apartment in the Castro neighborhood as among the most expensive neighborhoods in North America. Young People Jones was straight to the point on encouraging a younger generation. “We need to say to our young people, that we love them, that they are beautiful, that their lives matter and how can we help them move forward,” he urged. The 2016 Federal Election and What to Do “We are in deep shit, so when young people ask me what should they do,” Jones says. “My advice is to find something, some way of contributing that you really enjoy, that you can get some pleasure out of it.” Questions from the Audience: 62 and Going Strong, 1978 Seattle Activism, and King County loses Domestic Partner Benefits
Egan Orion interviews Cleve Jones at PrideFest - Photo courtesy of Neil Powers
Asked how he keeps going, Jones talked of having community: “I have been through some terrible times, just awful, awful loss, but I never ever felt I was experiencing that
by myself.” He added, “I am surrounded by love. That’s the most important thing.” A longtime Seattle activist reminded Jones and the audience that in 1978 the LGBTQ community defeated a voter initiative to take away City of Seattle sanctioned gay rights for housing and employment. One audience member alerted people to the fact that “domestic partnerships are being gutted for non-traditional families” at King County. Apparently, the King County Coalition of Unions recently bargained away domestic partner health benefits. An exception allows benefits, if a partner is 62 years old or older. In response, Jones talked about equal marriage and recognizing rights of domestic partners. “We need those rights to be able to take care of the people we love whatever those families look like.” “I think the focus on marriage equality was rooted in the darkest day of the pandemic,” he said. “But during that epidemic we understood that little piece of (marriage) paper could mean life or death … the people who pushed for marriage equality were working class people, middle class people who understood in a really brutal way how much that piece of paper mattered.” You are Not Powerless and Finding a Way to (happily) Contribute “You are not powerless,” Jones says. There are many people out there that really want you to believe that you are powerless and this isn’t just (for the) young. This is for all of us, what you do matters … don’t let anyone persuade you to the contrary.” “So my hope for each one of you is that you find what I found – a way to contribute, a way to move the ball forward, that also brings you joy and satisfaction,” he urges. “We want you to be happy, you deserve to be happy…that’s what will keep you going.”