After the AIDS epidemic hit San Francisco, gay activist Cleve Jones co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and started the AIDS Memorial Quilt. “I have these memories of great struggle and great pain and great loss, but I also in my lifetime have seen extraordinary progress and amazing change,” he says. His memoir, ‘When We Rise,’ was published in 2016.

Marijane Meaker wrote the lesbian pulp novel ‘Spring Fire’ in 1952, and was surprised when it sold 1.5 million copies. She went on to write other lesbian-themed books under pen names. She spoke with Terry Gross in 2003.

Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews Jon Stewart’s political satire film ‘Irresistible.‘