LGBTQ rights activist Cleve Jones to speak in Costa Mesa

Gay-rights activist and labor organizer Cleve Jones will speak at Costa Mesa’s Fairview Community Church next weekend.

Jones will appear at the church’s 10 a.m. service April 23 during a panel-style conversation open to all community members.

“It’s such an honor to have a living legend in our presence,� said the Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson-Cano, the church’s senior pastor. “As an opening, welcoming and affirming congregation, we are thrilled to welcome him, to hear more about his story and to be inspired as we seek to rise together to support one another.�

Jones, 62, is an activist, author and lecturer who was at the forefront of San Francisco’s gay liberation movement in the 1970s alongside pioneer activist Harvey Milk. Jones worked as a student intern in Milk’s office in City Hall and was there when Milk was assassinated in 1978.

A few years later, Jones co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and launched the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, a global arts project dedicated to people who died of AIDS-related causes.

Jones’ memoir, “When We Rise: My Life in the Movement,� tells the story of the fight for LGBTQ rights in 1970s San Francisco and living with the specter of AIDS during the early years of the epidemic. The book helped inspire the recent ABC-TV miniseries “When We Rise.�

Actor Emile Hirsch portrayed Jones in the 2008 film “Milk,� for which Jones was a historical consultant.

In 2009, Jones led the National March for Equality in Washington, D.C.

Jones, who says he has been HIV-positive since the late 1970s, lives in San Francisco, organizing for the hospitality labor union UNITE HERE.

“We are looking forward to hearing Cleve tell his inspirational story,� Halverson-Cano said. “Anyone who has watched the miniseries or read his book knows that his journey was not easy, but that in learning to love and accept himself for who he is, he was able to make a difference in … hundreds, and now thousands, of lives.�

Fairview Community Church has been outspoken about LGBTQ and marriage equality and participates each year in the AIDS Walk, Halverson-Cano said.

“We proudly fly the rainbow flag and intentionally invite lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to join us this Sunday and all Sundays,� she said.

After Jones shares his story at Fairview, he will sign books.

The church is at 2525 Fairview Road.

ALLYSON ESCOBAR is a contributor to Times Community News.