During WorldPride, the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C. unveiled an AIDS Memorial Quilt exhibit at St. Thomas' Parish, commemorating chorus members lost in the 1980s and '90s. This personal memorial includes full quilt blocks and photos, highlighting the impact of the AIDS crisis on the chorus. The initiative stemmed from outreach to students unfamiliar with the epidemic, prompting members to search for quilt panels dedicated to their departed friends. They confirmed the existence of 33 panels through extensive research, creating a poignant tribute to lost voices.
For us, this is not just history. These are our people. We estimate that about 100 members of our chorus died of AIDS. A hundred voices silenced.
We told them about the fear, about watching friends die, and about the quilt.
We spent two and a half months digging into the National AIDS Memorial database, the Names Project records, and the digitized archives in the Library of Congress to confirm 33 individual chorus members who had panels made.
The exhibit features full quilt blocks and a companion photo display, honoring dozens of chorus members who died of AIDS complications.
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