95,000 Names and 95,000 Stories
A simple quilt to honor the lives of AIDS victims became a monument
Celebrating Tradition
Traditions are an essential element of every culture. Merriam-Webster’s definition:
…the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction.
Stories, in other words. But not just stories which are spoken, as humans often create celebrations based on those verbal stories. A time for remembrance, the retelling of a past story, and the telling of stories more current. Such is the case with Pride Month.
The Christopher Street Liberation Day March took place on Sunday, June 28, 1970, one year after the Stonewall Uprising, and provided the sparks that would ultimately ignite the global LGBTQ+ movement for equality. In subsequent years gay pride marches and parades would spread to cities all across the United States and throughout the globe.
Pride events continue to be a time for celebration, but also a time to remember those who lost their lives to the AIDS epidemic.
Some five decades later, the month of June 2020 became more inclusive, as we thought about others whose lives tragically ended long before their time. We sadly watched as COVID-19 deaths approached half a million and protesters took to the streets, voices raised in support of Black Lives Matter and protesting extreme police violence.
With Pride events cancelled due to the virus, it felt as though the origin stories which were threads of the tradition would somehow fail to find a public voice. But last week The Kitchen Sisters broadcast a revealing podcast episode that recalled one of these pivotal and historic stories – 95,000 Names: Gert McMullin, Sewing the Frontline.
In 1985, Gert McMullin was one of the first San Franciscans to put a stitch on the AIDS Quilt, the quilt that began with one memorial square in honor of a man who had died of AIDS, and that now holds some 95,000 names. Gert never planned it this way, but over the decades she has become the Keeper of the Quilt and has stewarded it, repaired it, tended it, traveled with it and conserved it for some 33 years now. Gert knows the power of sewing.
It’s an uplifting story that spans decades, connects two pandemics, and exemplifies the generosity of humans who pour their heart into the lives of strangers. Such stories are often times missed, or they’re glossed over with only a brief mention, unless someone captures the narrative, preserves it, much like the quilt, to remind future generations.
In 2020, when COVID-19 hit, Gert was one of the first Bay Area citizens to begin sewing masks – PPE for nurses and health care workers who were lacking proper protection – masks she makes from fabric left over from the making of the AIDS Quilt. The comfort, outrage and honoring of an earlier pandemic being used to protect people from a new one.
As I look back on the month of June 2020, I am grateful for the traditions that uphold equality across racial, gender, and sexual boundaries. Boundaries that are indeed false, yet harmful realities born of ignorance and bound by discrimination.
The key is knowing that our personal narratives can be allies to such noble endeavors. Maybe you have such a story based your own experience, or the struggles of family and friends. If so, don’t let that story disappear, don’t allow its significance to fade away.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. If so, please share your wisdom and insights below. And don’t forget to subscribe. You can also find me on LinkedIn and Twitter, or even drop me a line with any thoughts or questions you may have about storytelling.