In the early 1980s, Doctors in San Francisco began noticing healthy young people were contracting a strange and deadly disease.

At the time little was known about HIV or Aids.

No one knew how to treat it, or how to stop it.

It had a devastating effect on the city, and the vibrant LGBT community was particularly badly hit. Thousands of gay men died.

In 1985, LGBT activist Cleve Jones came up with a creative idea to help show how many lives had been lost.

Witness History: The stories of our times told by the people who were there.