Bay Area Reporter - December 1, 2005
Matthew S. Bajko, m.bajko@ebar.com

His desire to see sections of the quilt returned to its birthplace fell apart late last month after the Atlanta-based Names Project, which oversees the 44,000 quilt panels, pulled out of settlement talks to resolve a lawsuit Jones filed in January 2004. As part of the settlement agreement, the project had agreed to send a limited number of quilt panels back to San Francisco where they would be put on public display and overseen by a new entity, called the San Francisco Bay Area Friends of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, that Jones would run.

"I was planning on doing a display in City Hall but obviously I haven't been able to move ahead with any of these plans because of these new delays," said Jones, 51, in his first interview since news that the settlement talks had collapsed. "A very large number of people in San Francisco have contacted me - activists, nonactivists, educators, students - and I am sure they are puzzled why we haven't moved forward. I feel really bad about it."

Jones, who is HIV-positive, has sparred with Names Project officials since 2003 over fundraising and plans to mount a nationwide tour of the entire AIDS quilt in 2004 that would have ended with a display on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to be timed with the presidential election. Board members and project staff apparently balked at the idea and fired Jones in late 2003 as its spokesman and "founder for life."

Jones had been earning a yearly salary of $41,500 and was entitled to health benefits for the rest of his life. At a press conference in January 2004 he announced he was suing the project for wrongful termination, breach of contract, and emotional distress. As part of the suit, Jones had hoped to see the entire AIDS quilt return to San Francisco after the Names Project picked up and moved to Georgia in 2001.

This spring the court threw out the first two claims but allowed Jones to sue for emotional distress. In September Jones agreed to drop his suit and settle with the project.

"I fought hard to get the entire quilt back because I believe strongly that the quilt, like the rainbow flag, like the Gay Games, could only have started in San Francisco. I am not entirely satisfied by the settlement but at least we are going to have quilts here for World AIDS Day this year," Jones said at the time.

However, a lawyer for the Names Project said the organization made the decision to pull out of the settlement agreement due to Jones's "unreasonable" demands made during negotiations to resolve the legal dispute. San Francisco attorney Charles L. Thompson IV, who is representing the organization, declined to disclose what demands the Names Project found objectionable due to the ongoing litigation.

"In the Names Project's opinion he is being unreasonable because he is asking for things in the written agreement to which the parties did not agree to before the court," said Thompson, with the law firm Kauff McClain McGuire. "Because these are confidential settlement discussions, I am prohibited from discussing specifics."

Jones refuted such a description of his requests, saying it is the Names Project that is not holding to the terms it originally agreed to in the settlement. Jones claimed he learned of the project's decision late Monday, November 21 after he returned from a trip to Mexico.

"I returned to San Francisco late last night to learn about this latest maneuver," Jones said on the morning of November 22. "All I have to say about it is it is our understanding we have a binding agreement. I am baffled by his assertion that I've made new and unreasonable demands."

Bickering, impasse

Jones said the two sides have argued over the placement of a Web link for Jones's new entity on the Names Project Web site. Jones also said that on top of the shipping and insurance costs he agreed to pay in order to have the quilt panels sent to San Francisco that the project now wants him to pay a monthly rental fee, which would amount to several thousand dollars a year.

The two sides were also at loggerheads over which of the 35 12-foot by 12-foot sections of the quilt to send back to Jones. Each section is comprised of eight separate quilts, and Jones specifically requested the very first one he stitched for his friend and former roommate, Marvin Feldman, be included. Feldman died of AIDS in October 1986.

"In the settlement it says that they are to make their best efforts to ensure Marvin's panel is one of those returned to San Francisco. Now, they are saying flat out they wouldn't do that," said Jones.

Jones said he is saddened by the latest impasse in the dispute and doubts if the Names Project wants to see the panels returned to San Francisco.

"What I am getting out of this is these people are going to do everything possible to keep even the smallest amount of quilts from returning to San Francisco. I think it is a very peculiar action on their part," said Jones. "Thousands and thousands of quilt panels came from San Francisco made by San Franciscans. The Names Project continues to keep the quilt locked up in a warehouse in Atlanta where no one from San Francisco has any access to it at all. It is a sad thing."

The increasingly acrimonious fight between the Names Project and its founder has taken a toll on the organization, said Thompson, who blamed the negativity on Jones and his attorney, former supervisor and mayoral candidate Angela Alioto.

"The Names Project has great respect for Mr. Jones and his initial accomplishments for creating the quilt. In the Names Project's opinion one reason that the litigation has continued as long as it has is because of the conduct of the other side. I would say the manner in which the other side conducted this litigation has contributed to its ongoing litigation. It has diverted resources and time away from the organization's mission," said Thompson.

While Jones said he would ask the court to hold the Names Project to the settlement agreement, the case is now scheduled to go to trial in San Francisco Superior Court in July 2006. Thompson said he expects the case will be thrown out before a jury ever hears it. Along with filing a motion to exclude certain evidence from the trial, Thompson said the Names Project would also ask the court to place sanctions against Jones and Alioto.

"The Names Project needs to do what it feels is in the best interest of the organization," said Thompson, who said the project would seek reimbursement for its legal fees in the case. "The only issue at trial is whether the Names Project engaged in behavior that caused him emotional distress. As a matter of law we are confident the claim will be thrown out even before the case goes to trial."

According to Thompson, Jones's attempts to regain control of the quilt are now officially dead. Even if the case does go to trial, Thompson said the only thing the jury could award Jones is monetary damages for emotional distress.

"The jury has no ability or authority to provide Mr. Jones with any quilt panels. That portion of the suit was tossed out more than a year ago by the court," he said. "The bottom line is the Names Project believed that Mr. Jones tried to stage a coup and he lost."

New group?

Despite the ongoing public feud and increasing acrimony between Jones and Names Project officials, a portion of the AIDS quilt may still one day be returned to San Francisco. Thompson said the project is working with a group of local residents to devise a plan on how to send back several quilt panels to the Bay Area.

He would not disclose the names of those people working on the plan, but Thompson did say the project is hopeful that Mike Smith, executive director of the AIDS Emergency Fund who joined the Names Project board in November, will oversee the effort. Thompson expects the group to present its plans in the third quarter of 2006.

Smith, a co-founder of the AIDS quilt who served as general manager of a Castro store space for the first three years, produced the 1996 display on the Mall in D.C. He joined the board two weeks ago and is currently the only San Francisco member.

Smith declined to discuss the ongoing legal dispute, saying only that he looked forward to the two sides reaching an agreement. As for his plans, he said, "I intend to help bring parts of the quilt back to San Francisco."

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