By Ryan Smith
Watching these videos and reading these stories about these individuals is really heavy and really makes you be grateful for the modern medicine and advancements we have today. Ive always been aware of the AIDS pandemic and the history this country has with LGBTQ rights. It still shocks me that not too long ago it was a federal crime to be queer in this county. As some 30+ years has passed since this tragedy and the illegal precedent of being queer, it doesn’t seem we have made as much progress as a nation as we should have. It was only 7 years ago that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same sex marriage, and legalizing all same sex marriages throughout the county.
Seeing these videos about how and why the quilt was made really opened my eyes on how such a deviating tragedy brought so many people together and make the worlds largest community arts project ever. It has 40,000+ individuals that lost their lives to this AIDS pandemic.
Back then there wasn’t much or if any information on sexual awareness and practicing safe sex. AIDS was something completely new back then and was at my understanding terrifying because no one knew anything about it and how to prevent it. Listening to these stories about how so many friends and family members were lost by the numbers and how much it would take its toll on you. The panels representing the size of a casket makes a bigger impact on the stories that want to be told, and these innocent lives will not be forgotten.
