Last Thursday evening we went to the National Film Theatre to see a talk by Cleve Jones, he of NAMES Project fame, and right hand man to Harvey Milk. It was part of the 23rd Lesbian & Gay Film Festival that's currently being held in London.
The talk took the form of an informal interview in front of a packed house, with Cleve talking through how he came to move to San Francisco and meet Harvey, how he dealt with Harvey's assassination and the repercussions, how the NAMES Project came about, and then how the film biopic "Milk" finally came to fruition.
After a slightly slow start Cleve quickly opened up and became incredibly friendly and eloquent, and by the end of it seemed like he would have happily chatted the night away. He came across as terribly humble, and very, very inspirational. The more this guy talks to young queerlings about their history and their legacy the better.
He likes to describe himself, as well as Milk and others like them, as ordinary men. The point he made was that we're all born the same and die the same but what we do in between is up to us. And we need to make a difference.
When talking about the AIDS Quilt he actually became very upset and broke down when recalling the friends that he lost in the early days, and as a result it was incredibly moving.
He was also actually very humorous, and you can still see the young man that is portrayed in "Milk". And he seemed to describe almost every man he'd met as "hot", including Dustin Lance Black who he escorted to the Oscars, and who's acceptance speech is a modern iconic moment in gay history.
Overall I came away challenged and inspired, and could have listened to him all night long. If ever I get the chance to say thank you in person for everything thing he has done for us then I should not hesitate one jot.
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