The Quilt

    This is a discussion post for my class, Diversity in the City.  Wow, writing about my San Francisco days really brought me to tears.  It was such an intense time of fear about AIDS and the struggle for equality.  And I was a mess in the middle.  Still very Mormon with a gay husband in constant fear of his life.  I knew a man that had been stabbed just for being gay - so the fear was real.  But my short time of volunteering for the Quilt Project was never a hesitation in my mind.  I am honored to have done so.  

Many people at that time who died of AIDS did not have a funeral because of the stigma and many funeral homes wouldn't prepare the bodies because of the fear.  Cleve Jones (actually the man I knew that had gotten stabbed) came up with the idea for the quilt during the Milk/Moscone candle light march (they were both assassinated by a homophobe).  The quilts were created to make up for the lack of memorial services and grave sites.  Each quilt was 3 x 6 feet - the size of a coffin and made out of material that was designed and made by loved ones of the deceased.  It was truly a sight to behold to realize that each of those panels represented someone who died.  

Homework Post -

One good example of how a city can play a character is in the movie, “Milk”.  This setting also contributes greatly to a portrayal of LGBTQ+ communities. San Francisco and especially the Castro District have long been thought of as friendly places for this population.  And it was a key presence in this movie. I lived in the Bay Area in the 80’s and this story was still remembered and talked about. I volunteered on the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in San Francisco when it was last shown in the Moscone Center in its entirety for the last time (because it had gotten so large - it was shown in smaller pieces after that).  This project memorialized the large amounts of gay man dying from AIDS related causes at that time and especially in that city. San Francisco is definitely a main character in the LGBTQ+ story.

On page 14 Fainstein talks about a Just City in her article, “Cities and Diversity: Do we want it? Can we Plan for it?”  She quotes Nussbaum in, “Women and Human Development” when she lists a set of capabilities needed for full human development.  Fainstein likens this list to one that is needed in a Just City which are democracy, equity, diversity, growth, and sustainability.  One of the reasons it can be difficult to plan for diversity is because in some cases these important values need to be traded off against each other.  For example, growth and equity and also growth and sustainability may compete against each other. But with this and other difficulties, I absolutely think it is imperative that we plan for diversity and inclusion.  And I absolutely feel that I do not want to live/work/go to school in a place that does not do the same. As I have stated in other writings in the class, diversity and inclusion are paramount to me and this class has shown me even more why this is important.