The October 13, 1988 issue of the Bay Area Reporter had two interesting stories on the front page. One reported on the AIDS Memorial Quilt returning to Washington, D.C., where 8,288 panels were displayed on the Ellipse in front of the White House. (The quilt's first visit to the nation's capital had been a year earlier, during the National March on Washington; it included 1,920 panels.) The other article reported on the effort of Vaughn Walker to become a federal judge.
The Senate Judiciary Committee rejected his nomination, which had been protested by gay and lesbian activists because Walker was the attorney representing the U.S.