Name Tomas Fabregas | ||
Tomás Luis Fábregas Boudín (1958 – September 22, 1994) was an AIDS activist.
Fábregas graduated in geography and history at the Universidade de Santiago, Fabregas, a Spaniard by birth, first came to the U.S. in 1979. He had moved to New York City to work at the UN Headquarters. Soon thereafter, he took up permanent residency in New York. He later moved to California to earn a graduate degree at UC Berkeley.
AIDS activism
Then, in 1989, came the devastating discovery that Tomas was HIV positive. His response was to abandon his professional aspirations and launch himself into AIDS activism. That same year he joined the San Francisco AIDS Foundation as a volunteer and was placed in the organization's Public Policy Department.
He and his partner, Jeffrey L. Brooks, made the decision to move to San Francisco. Both became involved in AIDS activism with organizations such as AMFAR. Later he joined the board of directors at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, one of the organizations which fights against the spread of the disease in the city.
Tomas made significant contributions to AIDS activism during his time with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. In 1990, he was a major contributor in the creation of a multilingual newsletter for HIV-positive people. That same year he was elected to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's board of Directors as well as the Healing Alternatives Foundation's Board of Directors.
In 1992 he attended the AIDS International Conference in Amsterdam on behalf of the above-mentioned organisation. At that time the US Government passed a law which banned entry to HIV positive people into the country. Fábregas disclosed his HIV status publicly at the conference and announced he was to challenge the Bush (senior) administration to detain him at the border. But the law was never applied. Upon his arrival at the San Francisco airport, he was welcomed by several AIDS activists.
The San Francisco AIDS Candlelight Vigil grants its annual ´Tomás Fábregas Awards´ to reward AIDS activists.
Furthermore, his involvement in this cause was acknowledged by UNESCO and the San Francisco City Hall.
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society of San Francisco currently has printed material about Tomás for safekeeping. It consists of six boxes of documents donated by Tomás's partner, Jeffrey L. Brooks.
The "Coruña Visible" festival (held in November 2008) was dedicated to Tomás as well as Marcela y Elisa, two women who married in A Coruña in 1901, under the identities of Marcela y "Mario".