Background
Jones was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Jones was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona.
He conceived of the NAMES Project Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Memorial Quilt which has become, at 54 tons, the world"s largest piece of community folk art as of 2009. In 1983, at the onset of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome pandemic Jones co-founded the San Francisco Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Foundation which has grown into one of the largest and most influential People with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome advocacy organizations in the United States. His career as an activist began in San Francisco during the turbulent 1970s when he was befriended by pioneer gay rights leader Harvey Milk.
He worked as a student intern in Milk’s office while studying political science at San Francisco State University.
In 1978, Milk was assassinated along with San Francisco’s Mayor George Moscone. Jones went to work in the district office of State Assemblyman Art Agnos.
In 1983, when Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was still a new and poorly understood threat, Jones co-founded the San Francisco Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Foundation. The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Memorial Quilt has grown to become the world’s largest community arts project, memorializing the lives of over 85,000 Americans killed by Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. While in San Francisco, Jones took part in a documentary, Echoes of Yourself in the Mirror, about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome epidemic, speaking during World Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Day in 2005.
In the documentary he talks about the idea behind the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Memorial Quilt, as well as the activism of San Francisco citizens in the 1970s and "80s to help people affected by Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and to figure out what the disease was.
The film also looks at the impact Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is having in communities of color, and the young. Jones has been working with UNITE HERE, the hotel, restaurant, and garment workers" labor union on homophobia issues. He is a driving force behind the Sleep With The Right People campaign, which aims to convince LGBT tourists to stay only in hotels that respect the rights of their workers.
Another part of Jones"s work with UNITE HERE is making the labor movement more open to LGBT members.
Jones is portrayed by actor Emile Hirsch in Milk, director Gus Van Sant"s 2008 biopic of Harvey Milk. Jones is prominently featured in And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts"s best-selling 1987 work of non-fiction about the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome epidemic in the United States.
Jones was also featured in the 1995 documentary film The Castro. Jones was one of the Official Grand Marshals of the 2009 New York City LGBT Pride March, produced by Heritage of Pride joining Dustin Lance Black and Anne Kronenberg on June 28, 2009.
In August 2009, Jones was an official Grand Marshal of the Vancouver Pride Parade.
Jones participated as an actor in the Los Angeles premiere of 8, a condensed theatrical re-enactment of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial"s closure, on March 3, 2012.