National AIDS Memorial Quilt on display in Skillman

“The National AIDS Memorial Quilt is a celebration of more than 110,000 individuals who lost their lives from AIDS-related causes. This of course is only a small fraction of the estimated 36.3 million people who have passed away since HIV and AIDS were first recognized in 1981. The HIV & AIDS pandemic is an area in which prejudice and discrimination against lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual people have been exasperated with negative effects still felt by the community today. Early in the pandemic, the assumption that HIV & AIDS was a “gay disease” contributed to the gross delay in addressing the massive social upheaval that AIDS would generate. The quilt was and remains a poignant piece of our national history that has been instrumental in advocating for political action and keeping alive the memory of those we have lost to this terrible disease. 30 years since its last appearance on campus in 1992, we are so grateful to share a small piece of it with a new generation of Lafayette College and to inspire a renewed interest in the ongoing fight to eradicate HIV and the associated stigma against those living with the virus from our world.”  -Thomas Lee, assistant director for Gender & Sexuality Programs

Through a collaboration between OUT, the Library, Campus Life, and Gender & Sexuality Programs, five panels of the National AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display in Skillman Library from April 25-29 daily from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.