Hank M. Tavera
American AIDS activist (1944–2000)
Henry M. Tavera (January 19, 1944, East Los Angeles, California – February 27, 2000) was an AIDS activist, artistic director, and archivist based in the Mission District of San Francisco, California; his 1979 move to the region put him at the forefront of the AIDS epidemic via his involvement in various HIV/AIDS service organizations as well as AIDS theatre. He also did work around Chicano Gay Activism and teaching/advising. Tavera died on February 27, 2000, at 56 years old from kidney cancer.
Career
In a lifetime dedicated to advocacy and activism, Hank Tavera was heavily involved in work surrounding the AIDS epidemic. Tavera worked at the San Francisco City Clinic where he held the position of HIV/AIDS intervention specialist. Between 1986 and 1990, Tavera joined the staff of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, where he was responsible for running the Client Services department. During his time there, Tavera established bilingual services that centered on women and multiculturalism. In the following years, Tavera played crucial roles as an advocate by participating in the Latino Coalition on AIDS, chairing in the Third World AIDS Advisory Task Force, and becoming a voting delegate for LIFE, a Sacramento LGBT and AIDS lobby.
He later co-founded LLEGO (Latina/o Lesbian and Gay Organization) in California as well as National LLEGO, which were both organizations dedicated to the overall empowerment of all who were a part of the greater LGBT community. Hank Tavera and LLEGO were present during the 1993 Washington March for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.
The public source identifies “Hank M. Tavera” as american AIDS activist (1944–2000). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Hank, Tavera and American.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hank M. Tavera” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.