Like the parade of nations at the Olympic opening ceremonies, the disparate groups of the San Francisco LGBTQ community that Cleve Jones helped forge emerged with banners in their drag, leather, jockstraps, and other queer uniforms from a hallway at the Hibernia event space October 11 to celebrate his 70th birthday.
But though Jones came to cut cake, receive well-wishes, and launch his namesake community fund to help two organizations he co-founded, he also had a stern warning in a brief address reminiscent of those he's given through a bullhorn on Castro Street for 50 years.
"Are you strong? Are you ready to fight back?" he asked the crowd. "When I was a little baby homosexual back in Arizona I didn't want to live because I thought there was no point, there was no purpose, and then I read about gay liberation in Life magazine and I flushed those pills down the toilet and I got the fuck out of Phoenix and I hitch-hiked to San Francisco, California and found a movement of people, a community."
In San Francisco, Jones became an aide to the slain gay supervisor Harvey Milk, who represented the Castro neighborhood as the first openly gay elected official in California for 11 months before his assassination at City Hall along with then-mayor George Moscone.
"A few years after that I got sick and the government did nothing, and we were all dying and I thought I was dying," Jones continued, referring to his HIV status. He and others founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the AIDS Memorial Quilt during those dark years. "The drugs released saved my life and many of yours. The movement saved our lives. The movement can save our lives again if we are strong and bold and ready to fight."
Still, Jones said it wasn't fighting alone that led him to reach age 70 — or will lead the community in the future.
"I need to tell you, we can't do anything: I've learned this over the decades — we can't win, no matter how much money, solidarity, hope — we can't win without drag queens," Jones said.
And the drag queens were out in full force for the festivities. Sister Roma led the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence drag nun group in a blessing with a response from the audience, "Blessed be Cleve Jones."
"When the LGBTQ+ community was claiming our power, Cleve Jones worked side by side with Harvey Milk and became the voice of his generation," Roma said, followed by the response.
"When our community and allies were mourning the loss of loved ones taken too soon by HIV/AIDS, Cleve Jones wrapped us in a quilt to ease our pain."
Juanita MORE! also made an appearance, alongside the House of MORE!
"It was an absolute joy celebrating Cleve Jones this past weekend," MORE! stated October 15. "The event was a big show of love for Cleve, evident by all the energy in the room. The community came and showered him with admiration and deep affection for everything he had done for the community. I can't wait for his 80th!"
New fund raising money for HIV organizations
The event, at the Hibernia at 1 Jones Street in downtown San Francisco, was a fundraiser for the new Cleve Jones Community Fund, which will be funding groups he was instrumental in starting: the AIDS foundation and the quilt, which is now administered by the National AIDS Memorial Grove.
Jones told the B.A.R. October 15 he thinks he should have a final figure of how much was raised at the party by October 16.
Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a gay Black man who is HIV-positive and CEO of the AIDS foundation, stated to the B.A.R. that, "We are so grateful for our community's continued support of San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the organization that Cleve co-founded in 1982."
"More than 40 years later, SFAF continues to be committed to meeting the needs of all of us living with HIV, and doing everything we can to reach the end of the HIV epidemic," he continued. "It is thanks to the passion and dedication of our community supporters and activists, including Cleve Jones, that we have come so far in changing the trajectory of this epidemic."
John Cunningham, a gay man who is CEO of the grove, stated, "We were honored to celebrate Cleve Jones' 70th birthday and express gratitude for all he has done to uplift those on the margins, including the founding of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. ... Cleve Jones is an extraordinary example of what it means to demand and effect change. As he often says, 'if you take it for granted they will take it away.'"
Horizons Foundation is serving as the home of the fund but is not a beneficiary, according to Roger Doughty, a gay man who is president of the grant-making nonprofit.
"Horizons Foundation is honored to be a partner with Cleve, as well as with the organizations that will benefit from the Cleve Jones Community Fund — National AIDS Memorial and San Francisco AIDS Foundation," he stated. "Friday evening celebrated Cleve as the very special leader he has been and is. But it was more, too: a celebration of our movement, our history, our power, and the mighty challenges ahead."
The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus performed two songs at the event. The first was "Don't Take it for Granted," a piece inspired by a speech Jones gave last year. The second was "The Future of Us," written by Our Lady J, the first out trans woman to perform at Carnegie Hall and known for her work on "Pose," and who performed on the piano.
"Cleve was there the night the chorus gave its first public performance on the steps of City Hall, and since that dark day in 1978, he has served as a beacon of light and leadership for the LGBTQ+ community and an avid advocate for the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus," stated Jacob Stensberg, a gay man who is artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, referring to the chorus's inaugural performance the night Milk and Moscone were killed. "We are proud and grateful to be a part of the same family, for every intersection our stories have had through the years, and continue to be inspired by Cleve's activism and organizing. The chorus, and the world, is better off because of Cleve."
Gay artist Serge Gay Jr. made pieces of art of scenes from Jones' life for the event.
"I was just so honored to do this for Cleve and it was received so well at the event," the artist stated. "People loved seeing the artwork in person and added to the joyous celebration. The love was in the room, and I hope that Cleve received all that deserving love and more."
'Forever twink of the Castro'
Jones received honors from the state Legislature and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors at a private event earlier in the day at the Financial District offices of the SWA Group — the group behind the Harvey Milk Plaza redesign. At the same event, Mayor London Breed declared October 11 Cleve Jones Day in San Francisco.
The mayor noted Jones' birthday falls on National Coming Out Day.
"We are able to celebrate like this and be who we are and love who we love because of trailblazers like Cleve Jones," Breed said. "You see a new generation of young people growing up, and I'm really proud that some of the work that we are able to do creates the opportunity to ensure that the next generation gets better and better and better because he kicked down those doors."
Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro on the Board of Supervisors, said, "You cannot say enough about how much Cleve Jones has meant to all of the queers. I misspoke and said something about his aging or something a few weeks ago — it wasn't good — and I tried to make up for it by calling him 'the forever twink of the Castro.'"
Mandelman said, "it has been a gay couple of months in the Castro, and the mayor has been a big part of that, and Cleve Jones has been a big part of that," referring to the landmarking of the flagpole and giant rainbow flag at Market and Castro streets, plus the announcement of the new LGBTQ history museum site in the Castro.
"Along the way, when your gay supervisor has wavered and considered spots outside the Castro, this one called me up and read me the freakin' riot act," Mandelman revealed. "So, thank you, Cleve." A feasibility study on an LGBTQ history museum was done in 2019 and concluded that the site should be located in the Castro.
Lesbian state Senator Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) thanked Jones for his work with UNITE HERE Local No. 5. Atkins is running for governor in 2026.
"The work you do on behalf of working individuals and families I appreciate," she said.
Atkins also recalled her experience with the quilt.
"My twin sister's husband died of AIDS in the time right as I got to California and he was not treated with dignity," she said. "In fact, he was quarantined in Balboa Naval Hospital, and we did a panel for him and we did one for my cousin, and I just want to tell you what that meant to my sister and to her son, my nephew."
Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the former House speaker, sent recorded remarks. She couldn't make it due to the death of a friend.
"You were a shining light in the dark, building community out of grief and spurring action out of anguish," she said. "When you pitched me on your idea for an AIDS memorial quilt, I wasn't quite convinced. I said 'Cleve, nobody sews. I have five kids and I don't even sew.' You were right, and I was wrong. It wasn't long before I was sewing patches myself. ... Cleve, thank you for all that you have done, all that you continue to do. It is a joy to call you my dear friend."
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