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Activist Cleve Jones Says The Gay Rights Movement Saved His Life

NPR
Published October 11, 2017 at 12:20 PM EDT
Activist Cleve Jones speaks during a panel after the North American premiere of "When We Rise" at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on Jan. 12, 2017, in Palm Springs, Calif. (Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)
Activist Cleve Jones speaks during a panel after the North American premiere of "When We Rise" at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on Jan. 12, 2017, in Palm Springs, Calif. (Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

Today is National Coming Out Day, a day of awareness for the LGBT community. It’s something that didn’t exist when longtime gay rights activist Cleve Jones came out.

Jones (@CleveJones1) writes about his experiences fighting for gay rights in the 2016 memoir “When We Rise: My Life in the Movement,” and spoke with Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson when the book was first published.

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