A Life in Activism

Cleve Jones conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which has become the world's largest piece of community folk art. He also co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which has grown into one of the largest and most influential People with AIDS advocacy organizations in the United States. More recently, he fought to overturn California’s Proposition 8 and legalize same-sex marriage. Cleve’s memoir, When We Rise, details the nearly four decades that he has spent at the center of the movement to give voice to people who, for much of human history, have been made invisible. When We Rise is the partial inspiration for the forthcoming ABC miniseries of the same name. From Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and Executive Producer Gus Van Sant, the film features Guy Pearce (playing Jones), Mary-Louise Parker, Rachel Griffiths, Carrie Preston and Michael K. Williams.