CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
A San Francisco judge this week dismissed a lawsuit filed by Cleve Jones, the HIV-positive creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, against the foundation that owns and manages the quilt over Jones's firing in December 2003. Jones, who started the 40,000-panel quilt in 1987 and served as its official spokesman until his firing, says he was wrongly fired from his job because he pushed for a plan to display the full quilt in Washington, D.C., prior to the 2004 election. He claims that display was opposed by the Atlanta-based Names Project Foundation's executive director and board of directors. Jones told The Advocate in March 2004 that Names Project executive director Julie Rhoad told him that if he met a $3 million fund-raising goal that the quilt would be taken on a national tour and displayed in the nation's capital. But two months later, when it became clear that he was going to meet the fund-raising goal, Jones claims the foundation inexplicably ordered him to stop all his fund-raising efforts for the project. He also claims that the foundation refused to provide him with basic financial information about the agency that potential funders had requested to see. Jones also told The Advocate that he was fired after writing a memo to the foundation's board of directors criticizing the organization's leadership, pointing out what he called peculiarities in the foundation's finances, and criticizing the organization for excluding HIV-positive people from leadership roles at the foundation. He adds that the foundation also reneged on a promise to reopen a quilt project office in San Francisco, where the quilt was founded and housed until 2001. Jones told The Advocate that the agency contacted him on December 1, 2003, to tell him that his position with the agency was being curtailed--that he would be paid $10,000 per year, down from his annual salary of $41,500, and that he'd retain his health insurance only if he agreed never to criticize the organization or speak publicly on behalf of the foundation or about the foundation without advance written permission from Rhoad. Calling that offer a "muzzle," Jones told The Advocate he turned down the offer. On December 31 he says he was informed that he had been fired from the agency. Repeated requests in March and April 2004 by The Advocate for interviews with Names Project executive director Julie Rhoad or board president Edward Gatta were refused. The agency also refused to provide financial information to The Advocate. Gatta told the San Francisco Chronicle that the foundation did not fire Jones, but that it had suspended his salary because Jones refused to meet with foundation officials to discuss changes in his role with the organization. The foundation agreed in January 2004 to keep paying for Jones' health care insurance, which Jones relied on to treat his HIV disease, according to Gatta. San Francisco superior court judge James Warren ruled the foundation had grounds to fire Jones and dismissed the wrongful termination lawsuit Jones had filed. However, Warren allowed a separate lawsuit claiming that Jones was "muzzled from speaking and thwarted from promoting his life's work" to continue, the Chronicle reports. That case will go before a jury in September.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Here Are Our 2024 Election Predictions. Will They Come True?
November 07 2023 1:46 PM
17 Celebs Who Are Out & Proud of Their Trans & Nonbinary Kids
November 30 2023 10:41 AM
Here Are the 15 Most LGBTQ-Friendly Cities in the U.S.
November 01 2023 5:09 PM
Which State Is the Queerest? These Are the States With the Most LGBTQ+ People
December 11 2023 10:00 AM
These 27 Senate Hearing Room Gay Sex Jokes Are Truly Exquisite
December 17 2023 3:33 PM
10 Cheeky and Homoerotic Photos From Bob Mizer's Nude Films
November 18 2023 10:05 PM
30 Steamy Photos of Folsom Street Fair 2023 Debauchery
October 15 2023 11:06 PM
42 Flaming Hot Photos From 2024's Australian Firefighters Calendar
November 10 2023 6:08 PM
These Are the 5 States With the Smallest Percentage of LGBTQ+ People
December 13 2023 9:15 AM
60 Burly Pics from Bearrison Street Fair 2022
October 08 2023 8:30 PM
Watch Now: Advocate Channel
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Latest Stories
Ron DeSantis and Disney reach settlement in suit over governing control
March 27 2024 6:10 PM
LGBTQ+ women face more challenges than men in running for office: report
March 27 2024 5:33 PM
Houthis sentence 9 men to death on dubious 'sodomy' charges in Yemen
March 27 2024 2:39 PM
Pride
Yahoo FeedBreaking boundaries in gender-free fashion with Stuzo Clothing
March 27 2024 2:15 PM
BREAKING: Nex Benedict's autopsy report released
March 27 2024 1:00 PM
Meta is failing its LGBTQ+ users, says new GLAAD report
March 27 2024 12:24 PM
79% of American workers say anti-LGBTQ+ laws impact where they move: report
March 27 2024 11:41 AM
Plus
Yahoo FeedInjectable HIV treatment, prevention: Everything you need to know
March 26 2024 10:45 PM
Ronna McDaniel, tied up by her Trump lies, drowns in an aquarium of her own making
March 26 2024 9:00 PM
The ultimate guide to cannabis in Provincetown
March 26 2024 6:40 PM