In observance of World AIDS Day, the Pioneers Museum and the Colorado Health Network have hosted panels of the National AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Conceived in 1985, when the fear, prejudice and social stigma surrounding AIDS prevented many of its victims from receiving proper funerals, the blanket is a massive memorial celebrating the lives of people who have succumbed to the disease.

The portion of the quilt on display at the Pioneers Museum contains the names of Colorado victims. Doug Lewis and Michael Cornejo, who have been together 42 years and married for 10, recognized several names on the quilt. The couple lost three friends to AIDS, Lewis said.

“It was nice to see the names, and to remember the people we’ve lost,” Lewis said. “The panels are beautiful. You can see all the hard work that went into them.”

Lewis can remember the 1980s and 1990s, when the first known HIV cases emerged in the U.S. The general misunderstanding of the disease, and its prevalence among gay men, had a negative effect on public attitudes toward its victims, he said.

“They were treated like lepers,” said Lewis, who works with the Colorado Health Network, an organization that provides health care, advocacy and support for people living with AIDS and HIV.

“If they’d had cancer, there would be places they could turn to for support. Instead, many people decided they were being punished for doing something wrong.”

Today, with modern treatment, many people with HIV are leading normal, healthy lives, with a nearly normal life expectancy.

“An HIV diagnosis used to be a death sentence, and now it isn’t,” Lewis said. “People are living with it. Many of them have gotten better, and feel better, and life is good for them.”

Still, no cure exists, and approximately 40.8 million people worldwide have HIV, with an estimated 1.3 million new cases in 2024, according to data from the World Health Organization.

“There’s still no cure for it,” said Richard Blair, director of capital campaigns for the Colorado Health Network. “People can live a good life with HIV, but they’d still be much healthier without it.”

Monday is World AIDS Day, and the memorial quilt can still be seen at the Pioneers Museum through Tuesday (the museum is closed Monday). Blair encourages anyone with an interest to stop by the museum.

“It’s a very emotional remembrance,” he said. “You can see the love and care that has gone into it from mothers, family members and friends. It’s a beautiful way to remember the loved ones we have lost to HIV and AIDS.”