Over 3,000 quilt panels displayed at SF's Golden Gate Park honoring those lost to AIDS

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Over 3,000 quilt panels were displayed in Golden Gate Park Saturday, with each representing a life lost to the AIDS pandemic.

Marking the 35th anniversary of the National Aids Memorial Quilts, activist, survivors and allies showed up to remember and honor lives affected by HIV.

While they celebrated the progress made especially in preventative medicines, speakers reminded us that the crisis is still not over.

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Founder and activist Cleve Jones started the project back in 1987.

Now the Quilt are considered the worlds largest community arts project.

"This is a gift to San Francisco. This is where we started," event organizer and quilt sewer Gert McMullin told ABC7 Friday.

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The names are sewn of the ones who have died from AIDS. McMullin, however, does not want this quilt to serve as sorrow symbol. She hopes it reminds people to be kind to one another.

"I would like people to take away compassion," she said. "I am really big on that I just think that people should stop judging."

The memorial will continue until Sunday afternoon.

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