CHLP’s #Team2Dream Remembers Activist Bryan C. Jones

With the recent passing of Bryan C. Jones, the HIV movement lost a powerful advocate and many of us at CHLP lost a valued friend and colleague. Bryan fought cancer for several years and passed peacefully at his home in Cleveland, surrounded by his family and partner, on December 29, 2024.

Bryan was a long-term HIV survivor who lived with HIV for nearly 40 years and was a founder of the Ohio Health Modernization Movement (OHMM). He also founded the D.I.R.T. (Direct, Inspiring, Reachable, and Teachable) Advocacy Movement and the Sankofa HIV Initiative, both of which focused on education, empowerment, and healing for people living with HIV.

Bryan was also deeply involved in CHLP’s work for more than a decade, working closely with Founding Executive Director Catherine Hanssens and many CHLP staffers as a member of the Positive Justice Project Advisory Group. “Bryan wasn’t scared to have the hard conversations,” said CHLP Senior PJP Attorney Jada Hicks. “In our years of coalition meetings, Bryan could be counted on to address the elephant in the room and also push people to do the right thing.”

He was a positive force for change that influenced the movement and influenced CHLP. He made suggestions on how CHLP could update its criminalization resources to better serve the needs of advocates. Both our HIV criminalization timeline and the state-by-state before and after documents were created in direct response to his recommendation that consolidating the information in one place would be beneficial for advocates.

Photo: Bryan (second from right) next to Jada at a presentation at NAESM in January 2020.

Through his participation, he also came up with ideas for webinars, presenting alongside CHLP at many in-person and virtual panels including Confronting Criminalization from the first HIV is Not a Crime Day in 2022. “He was fierce and unafraid but also incredibly welcoming and willing to collaborate when I first joined CHLP,” said Kae Greenberg, CHLP Staff Attorney.

He co-founded the Free Nushawn Coalition with fellow activist Davina Conner and this work was very personal to Bryan. “The racist, stigmatizing prosecution and indefinite detention that Nushawn Williams continues to fight deeply affected Bryan. It galvanized him – even radicalized him – and really motivated his work,” said Amir Sadeghi, CHLP Policy and Advocacy Manager.

Bryan’s unwavering dedication and fearless advocacy left an indelible mark on the HIV movement and continue to inspire our fight for justice and equity. “Bryan was an unapologetic force and beacon of liberation and justice. He cared so deeply and passionately for his people and that's what anchored his ferocity. May his legacy serve as a reminder to us all as we continue our fight for HIV justice,” said S. Mandisa Moore-O’Neal, CHLP Executive Director.

As our communities process the loss of his tremendous spirit, we send our condolences to his family and friends, fellow advocates in Ohio and beyond.

OHMM has created a memorial to honor Bryan and has invited people to share memories of him.