Of Quilts, AIDS, and Love!

Of Quilts, AIDS, and Love!


The AIDS Quilt was displayed in San Francisco the weekend of June 11-12, 2022, during PRIDE Month. Thousands of locals and visitors, LGBTQ+ and straight, came to see the many panels stitched together.?

The National AIDS Memorial made the exhibit possible. The last time the AIDS Quilt was displayed was in Washington D.C., in 1996. Twenty-six years later, it made it to the Robin Williams Meadow in Golden Gate Park.?

It is a powerful reminder of the tragedy a generation went through, the lives lost to AIDS, and the survivors; strength. Each of the quilt’s panels has the name of someone who died from AIDS, the epidemic that heavily hit the United States in the 1980s.

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Ron, 68, and David, 65, lost former spouses to AIDS and are long-time AIDS survivors. They live in San Francisco and have been together since 1996. They both use a walking stick, and their health is good overall. They are soft-spoken, and their love for each other is noticeable.

In many ways, when they see the quilt, they see their life.?

“It is sad in a touching way. We lived through the AIDS epidemic, and now 86 percent of my friends are gone,” Ron says, “but this also reminds us that we are not alone; people got together to make love palpable with each piece of the quilt.”

David hasn’t forgotten how much it hurt to lose his loved ones, for whom he made two panels. “Your heart gets smashed. You feel like your whole body is dissolving or growing apart on your grief,” he says. “But I think it made my heart bigger after I healed, and I had room to love more.”

Ron was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 and David a few years earlier, although his doctors confirmed he had HIV in 1987. “We didn’t expect to live this long,” both said.?

They have 26 years as a couple, supporting each other throughout the apps and downs of living with HIV and enjoying life.

“We both have the same artistic level, the same spiritual path, the same recovery path,” Ron says.

“We are part of the recovery community, everybody knows each other, and we are not alone,” David adds.?

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And they still find the other attractive. “David is so handsome, but I’d say his spirit touches my heart,” Ron says.?

“Ron’s eyes and kisses; they are the best in the world!” David says.?

It is one day at a time for these two kind human beings who are grateful for a day lived and a new day alive.?

Our impromptu interview ended when Ron heard his friend Marty read the names of people who died from AIDS, as it had been happening all day long, sending a love message to the universe and the people who died from AIDS.?

-Lupita Franco Peimbert.?

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