Jewel Thais-Williams, activist, advocate & icon
(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Foundation for the AIDS Monument)
(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Foundation for the AIDS Monument)
News
In Appreciation: Jewel Thais-Williams, 1939-2025
We at STORIES: The AIDS Monument mourn the passing and celebrate the dynamic and compassionate life of Jewel Thais-Williams:
– Founder Owner of Jewel’s Catch One Disco,
– Co-Founder of Minority AIDS Project,
– Co-Founder with her wife of Rue’s House for women with AIDS and their children, and
– AIDS Project LA Board Member.
Jewel was a guiding light of love and wisdom to so many in the LGBTQ community. Her Catch One Disco gave the LGBTQ community, especially the BPOC community, a place to dance away our worries and pain during the AIDS epidemic.
We were fortunate to have her as a speaker at our event in June 2021 commemorating the 40th anniversary of the CDC’s first report about a disease that became known as AIDS. Listen to some of her speech here!