Pedro Zamora
Encyclopedia
Pedro Pablo Zamora was a Cuba
n-American AIDS
educator and television personality. As one of the first openly
gay
with AIDS to be portrayed in popular media, Zamora brought international attention to HIV/AIDS and LGBT
issues and prejudices through his appearance on MTV
's reality television
series, The Real World: San Francisco
.
U.S. President Bill Clinton
credited Zamora with personalizing and humanizing those living with HIV—especially to Latino communities—with his activism, including his testimony before Congress. His romantic relationship with Sean Sasser was also documented on the show with the two getting married
on air; their relationship was later nominated by MTV viewers for "Favorite Love Story" award.
, San Miguel del Padrón
on the outskirts of Havana
, Cuba
, the eighth and youngest child of his family. His father, Hector, had fought in the Cuban Revolution
for Fidel Castro
, but became disillusioned with the changes after Castro came to power and revealed himself as a communist. According to Pedro, any mention of Castro in their home would result in a tirade from Hector, for which he earned a reputation with local informants, who as a result, made life difficult for the family. The Zamoras lived in a small house with a dirt floor. Food was scarce, and Zamora's mother, Zoraida Diaz, would trade on the black market for food.
After the birth of their seventh child, Zoraida had been told that she would not be able to have another, so when Zamora was born feet first
on February 29, 1972, the leap day of a leap year
, he was regarded as charmed, and treated specially by those in his community.
The Zamoras left Cuba for the United States
during the Mariel Boat Lift
, when Pedro was eight. After five days of processing, the entire family was set to board for the U.S. on May 30, 1980, when, mere hours before they did so, government officials ruled that his four older brothers and older sister were too close to the draft age, and had to remain. The elder siblings insisted, over their parents’ wishes, that they go without them so that the younger ones would have a better life. Pedro's parents took him, his sister Mily, and his brother Jesus onto a boat filled with 250 people that had been built for half that number. The Zamoras resided for most of his life in Hialeah, Florida
, a suburb of Miami. As a result of the difficulty of the family’s continued separation, Pedro became very close to his mother.
Zoraida died of skin cancer
when Pedro was thirteen. Suppressing his grief, he went into denial by throwing himself into his schoolwork, and by having promiscuous sex. He was an honors student
, president of the Science Club, captain of the Cross-Country team, and as one of the most popular students in Hialeah High School
, was voted Most Intellectual and Most All-Around. His mother's passing inspired him to become a doctor, but he replaced her presence in his life by becoming sexually active with many sexual partners. He was ignorant of safe sex
, as the only AIDS
education he received was in the seventh grade from a man who did not present the disease as a legitimate threat to him, but as something distant that only afflicted societal undesirables like prostitutes, drug addicts and homosexuals. Things such as sex and condoms were never mentioned, and thus Zamora never identified himself as someone at risk. When he was fourteen, his father, suspecting his son was gay
, had his brother follow him when he was supposed to be going out with a group of friends, only to find Zamora with his boyfriend. Zamora admitted his sexual orientation when his father confronted him. Hector, rather than being upset, was concerned over the homophobia
to which his son might be subjected, but affirmed that he would be supportive of his son.
In his junior year of high school, Zamora donated blood during a Red Cross blood drive
, and received a letter a month and a half later saying that his blood tested "reactive", though it did not specify for what, as the general screening was for a variety of viruses and infections. Zamora initially denied his suspicions, but weeks later, he decided to be tested, and on November 9, 1989, the results confirmed that he had HIV
.
Despite the devastation of his family at the news, he decided to redouble his efforts to graduate from high school before he died, though he did not give much thought to his health, as he was still in denial. He graduated high school in 1990, a year early, but five months later, he suffered a severe case of shingles that covered the entire right side of his body and face. With medication, the condition subsided after two months, but it inspired Zamora to join a Miami-based HIV/AIDS resource center called Body Positive, where he met others with HIV and AIDS, and educated himself about the disease, learning how to lead a positive life with it. Soon thereafter, he came to talk about his condition to others to attempt to raise awareness about the disease in his community.
Although his academic accomplishments could have gained him admission to very good colleges, Zamora decided to make a career as an AIDS educator. He began to lecture at schools of all levels, PTA
meetings, churches, and anyone else who would listen, traveling the country, sitting on the boards of various AIDS organizations, and hoping to use what time he had left to prevent others from sharing his fate. At the age of 19, his work came into national focus when Eric Morganthaler wrote a front page article about him for the Wall Street Journal, resulting in talk show
interviews by Geraldo Rivera
, Phil Donahue
and Oprah Winfrey
. Though Zamora was gay, he chose to not make that explicit point to school children, preferring to emphasize to them that he got the disease through unprotected sex, so as to underscore the fact that both homosexuals and heterosexuals could contract HIV. On July 12, 1993, he testified before the United States Congress
, arguing for more explicit HIV/AIDS educational programs, saying, “If you want to reach me as a young man – especially a young gay man of color – then you need to give me information in a language and vocabulary I can understand and relate to."
In 1993, Zamora met a fellow AIDS educator named Sean Sasser during a gay/lesbian march in Washington D.C., when both were involved with other people, and they became friends. The constant travel took its toll on Zamora, who at times was so tired that he was forced to cancel speaking engagements.
was casting for the next season of their reality TV show
, The Real World
, which would take place in San Francisco. His best friend and roommate, Alex Escarano, convinced him to put together an audition tape, arguing that he could reach more people simply by living in The Real World house than through the cross-country travel that exhausted him. Six months later, Zamora was informed that he had been chosen to be a castmate on the show, beating out 25,000 applicants.
Zamora and his six castmates (Mohammed Bilal, Rachel Campos, Pam Ling
, Cory Murphy, David "Puck" Rainey, and Judd Winick
) moved into the house at 953 Lombard Street on Russian Hill on February 12, 1994. While the producers informed the other six housemates that they would be living with someone HIV-positive, they did not tell them who it was. The first to meet Zamora was Cory Murphy, who traveled to the house with Zamora. During their trip, he told her he had AIDS. Zamora quickly bonded with his housemates. Zamora informed his roommate, Judd Winick, that he was the one with AIDS by telling him he was an AIDS educator, and the rest of the cast by showing them a scrapbook
of his career as an AIDS
educator. Another castmate, Rachel Campos, became uncomfortable with this, and initially distanced herself from Zamora, stating that she wanted to know how this would affect her, but said nothing for fear of seeming intolerant. Zamora took this as an act of rejection on her part, though the two later formed a rapport
in the second episode, in which Zamora addressed her concerns about his condition by educating her about HIV and AIDS. Nonetheless, Zamora later took offense at jokes about homosexuals that Rachel engaged in with David "Puck" Rainey.
Winick, who became best friends with Zamora, stated that Zamora had an almost "clairvoyant" ability to broach sensitive subjects, and still sensing that Winick had lingering doubts about sharing a room with him, Zamora educated Winick on ways in which the virus
could and could not be transmitted, and did so subtly, through casual conversation, so that Winick did not even realize it.
As the weeks went on, Winick and castmate Pam Ling
often attended Zamora's lectures at schools in the Bay Area
, which allowed them to learn more about HIV and AIDS. Castmate Cory Murphy joined the trio about halfway through their stay in the loft, often joining them on outings.
Sean Sasser had been living in San Francisco for a couple of years, so when Zamora moved into the loft, he and Sean began dating. Zamora asked the show's producers for permission to go out without cameras, so that he and Sasser could get to know one another in a more natural setting. The producers allowed this, and the two young men fell in love. Sasser proposed to Zamora, and the two exchanged vows in a commitment ceremony in the loft. Their relationship was nominated for "Favorite Love Story" at the 2008 Real Worlds Awards Bash.
Zamora came into personal conflict with housemate Rainey from the beginning of their stay in the house. In addition to the various personality traits of Rainey's with which all the roommates took issue, Rainey mocked Zamora's Cuba
n accent, denigrated his career as an educator, and made aforementioned gay-related jokes that offended Zamora. Winick described Rainey as "obnoxious" and "homophobic", and Zamora, feeling that the stress of his confrontations with Rainey was contributing to his deteriorating health, announced he would move out. The entire cast voted instead to evict Rainey from the house. Zamora’s health continued to deteriorate, however, and he suffered night sweats, Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia, and weight loss, and slept more frequently. Although he was able to participate in activities like parasailing during the group’s trip to Hawaii
, the cast grew more worried about him nonetheless, often covering up for him during their weekly "confessional" interviews with the producers by telling them that Zamora was doing fine when they knew otherwise.
began airing a week later. Zamora visited his family in Miami before returning to San Francisco to live with Sasser. When Winick, Zamora, Murphy, and Ling met again that August for a reunion party, Zamora's health and appearance had worsened, and having previously been talkative, he was often silent for long periods, finding it difficult to follow conversations or remember locations of places he had known for years. When Zamora was in New York for an ultimately canceled interview with CBS
's This Morning
, his contacts at MTV convinced him to see a doctor, but when he arrived at the MTV offices, he did not know where he was. On August 17, Zamora checked into St. Vincent’s Hospital
, and was diagnosed with toxoplasmosis
, a condition which causes brain
lesions, fatigue, headaches and confusion
. While medication alleviated the toxoplasmosis, further tests, including a biopsy
, revealed he had progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
(PML), a rare and usually fatal viral inflammation of the brain that breaks down the electrical impulses of the nervous system
. Although only 1% of AIDS patients contract PML, it usually dissipates on its own in patients with higher T-cell counts of 300-400. More serious symptoms of the illness can include paralysis
or aphasia
. At the time, Zamora’s T-cell count was 32, and the inflammation was attacking the frontal lobe of his brain, causing him short-term memory loss. Zamora was given three to four months to live.
On September 3, about three weeks after checking into St. Vincent’s, Zamora was flown to Miami to be with his family. The PML slowly took away Zamora’s ability to speak, though when then-President Bill Clinton
called Zamora to thank him for his work, Zamora expressed elation at the call, and was able to respond. Clinton, along with a Zamora family friend named Alonso R. del Portillo, Attorney General
Janet Reno
, Secretary of Health and Human Services
Donna Shalala
, and Florida Congresswoman
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
, reached an agreement with Cuba that would admit 20,000 Cubans per year. The Zamoras would be among the first, and would arrive in the next couple of weeks, reuniting the family for the first time in 15 years.
On October 21, Winick announced to the press that MTV had begun a trust in order to pay for Zamora's medical costs, as Zamora had no medical insurance.
During the wait for the family members from Cuba, Zamora developed a high fever and was admitted to Mercy Hospital. Wishing not to subject his family to a slow and prolonged death as had occurred with his mother, Zamora stated his wish not to be kept alive by artificial means. Hospitalized and unable to speak for almost a month, being fed intravenously, and becoming unresponsive, his family honored his wishes, and withdrew life support
, including medication, food and water. Surrounded by his family, Escarno, Winick, and Ling, Zamora died at 4:40 a.m. EST on November 11, 1994, the day after the final episode of The Real World: San Francisco aired. He was buried on November 13 at Vista Memorial Gardens in Miami Lakes, Florida.
MTV broadcast A Tribute to Pedro Zamora, a special memorial program, in his honor.
A street in Miami (SW 59th Street) was given the name "Pedro Zamora Way", although it is not in Hialeah, where he lived.
A number of organizations were created in Pedro's name, including National Pedro Zamora Foundation, which was founded by Winick, Ling, Mily Zamora, and Sasser, The Pedro Zamora Memorial Fund, which was created by the AIDS Action Foundation, the Pedro Zamora Youth Clinic, The Pedro Zamora Public Policy Fellowship and the Pedro Zamora Youth HIV Clinic. Winick, Ling, Mily Zamora and Sasser eventually distanced themselves from the Foundation due to conflicts with its president, Brian Quintana.
Winick continued lecturing on behalf of Pedro for three years, and his friendship with Zamora helped shape his subsequent work as a comic book
writer and artist. His autobiographical graphic novel
, Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned, was published in September 2000. It was awarded and nominated for numerous awards, including six American Library Association
awards, a nomination for an Eisner Award
, won Winick his first GLAAD
award, has been praised by creators such as Frank Miller
, Neil Gaiman
, and Armistead Maupin
, and has been incorporated into school curricula
across the country. Winick's experiences with Pedro would also help shape his work in mainstream superhero
comics, which would receive considerable media attention for storylines in Green Lantern
and Green Arrow
which explored gay or AIDS-related themes.
Bunim-Murray Productions produced a film, Pedro
, directed by Nick Oceano, dramatizing Zamora's life. The film was an Official Selection at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. In the film, which is Bunim-Murray's first scripted project, Zamora is portrayed by Alex Loynaz.
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n-American AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
educator and television personality. As one of the first openly
Closeted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
with AIDS to be portrayed in popular media, Zamora brought international attention to HIV/AIDS and LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
issues and prejudices through his appearance on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
series, The Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco is the third season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships...
.
U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
credited Zamora with personalizing and humanizing those living with HIV—especially to Latino communities—with his activism, including his testimony before Congress. His romantic relationship with Sean Sasser was also documented on the show with the two getting married
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
on air; their relationship was later nominated by MTV viewers for "Favorite Love Story" award.
Early life
Zamora was born in DiezmeroDiezmero
Diezmero is a district in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, located by Carretera Central. It is under the administration of San Miguel del Padrón municipality. Its demography spreads within about 2 square kilometers....
, San Miguel del Padrón
San Miguel del Padrón
San Miguel del Padrón is a municipality in Havana city, Cuba. It is one of the 15 municipalities into which the city is divided. It is on Havana's south-eastern outskirts, stretching from Ciudad Mar to Diezmero and from Reparto Mañana to Caballo Blanco....
on the outskirts of Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, the eighth and youngest child of his family. His father, Hector, had fought in the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
for Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, but became disillusioned with the changes after Castro came to power and revealed himself as a communist. According to Pedro, any mention of Castro in their home would result in a tirade from Hector, for which he earned a reputation with local informants, who as a result, made life difficult for the family. The Zamoras lived in a small house with a dirt floor. Food was scarce, and Zamora's mother, Zoraida Diaz, would trade on the black market for food.
After the birth of their seventh child, Zoraida had been told that she would not be able to have another, so when Zamora was born feet first
Breech birth
A breech birth is the birth of a baby from a breech presentation. In the breech presentation the baby enters the birth canal with the buttocks or feet first as opposed to the normal head first presentation....
on February 29, 1972, the leap day of a leap year
Leap year
A leap year is a year containing one extra day in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year...
, he was regarded as charmed, and treated specially by those in his community.
The Zamoras left Cuba for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the Mariel Boat Lift
Mariel boatlift
The Mariel boatlift was a mass emigration of Cubans who departed from Cuba's Mariel Harbor for the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980....
, when Pedro was eight. After five days of processing, the entire family was set to board for the U.S. on May 30, 1980, when, mere hours before they did so, government officials ruled that his four older brothers and older sister were too close to the draft age, and had to remain. The elder siblings insisted, over their parents’ wishes, that they go without them so that the younger ones would have a better life. Pedro's parents took him, his sister Mily, and his brother Jesus onto a boat filled with 250 people that had been built for half that number. The Zamoras resided for most of his life in Hialeah, Florida
Hialeah, Florida
Hialeah is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 226,419. As of 2009, the population estimate by the U. S...
, a suburb of Miami. As a result of the difficulty of the family’s continued separation, Pedro became very close to his mother.
Zoraida died of skin cancer
Skin cancer
Skin neoplasms are skin growths with differing causes and varying degrees of malignancy. The three most common malignant skin cancers are basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and melanoma, each of which is named after the type of skin cell from which it arises...
when Pedro was thirteen. Suppressing his grief, he went into denial by throwing himself into his schoolwork, and by having promiscuous sex. He was an honors student
Honors student
An honors student is a person recognized for achieving high grades or high marks in their course work.Honors students may refer to# Students recognized for their academic achievement on lists published periodically throughout the school year, known as honor rolls, varying from school to school, and...
, president of the Science Club, captain of the Cross-Country team, and as one of the most popular students in Hialeah High School
Hialeah High School
Hialeah High School is a secondary school located at 251 E 47th Street in Hialeah, Florida, USA.-History:Hialeah High School opened its doors to students and staff in 1953 to serve the growing communities of Northwestern Miami-Dade County. It is one of the oldest secondary schools in the county,...
, was voted Most Intellectual and Most All-Around. His mother's passing inspired him to become a doctor, but he replaced her presence in his life by becoming sexually active with many sexual partners. He was ignorant of safe sex
Safe sex
Safe sex is sexual activity engaged in by people who have taken precautions to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. It is also referred to as safer sex or protected sex, while unsafe or unprotected sex is sexual activity engaged in without precautions...
, as the only AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
education he received was in the seventh grade from a man who did not present the disease as a legitimate threat to him, but as something distant that only afflicted societal undesirables like prostitutes, drug addicts and homosexuals. Things such as sex and condoms were never mentioned, and thus Zamora never identified himself as someone at risk. When he was fourteen, his father, suspecting his son was gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, had his brother follow him when he was supposed to be going out with a group of friends, only to find Zamora with his boyfriend. Zamora admitted his sexual orientation when his father confronted him. Hector, rather than being upset, was concerned over the homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
to which his son might be subjected, but affirmed that he would be supportive of his son.
Living with AIDS
Blood Drive
Blood Drive may refer to:*Blood donation at a special event where donors come to give blood*Blood Drive , the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office...
, and received a letter a month and a half later saying that his blood tested "reactive", though it did not specify for what, as the general screening was for a variety of viruses and infections. Zamora initially denied his suspicions, but weeks later, he decided to be tested, and on November 9, 1989, the results confirmed that he had HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
.
Despite the devastation of his family at the news, he decided to redouble his efforts to graduate from high school before he died, though he did not give much thought to his health, as he was still in denial. He graduated high school in 1990, a year early, but five months later, he suffered a severe case of shingles that covered the entire right side of his body and face. With medication, the condition subsided after two months, but it inspired Zamora to join a Miami-based HIV/AIDS resource center called Body Positive, where he met others with HIV and AIDS, and educated himself about the disease, learning how to lead a positive life with it. Soon thereafter, he came to talk about his condition to others to attempt to raise awareness about the disease in his community.
Although his academic accomplishments could have gained him admission to very good colleges, Zamora decided to make a career as an AIDS educator. He began to lecture at schools of all levels, PTA
Parent-Teacher Association
In the U.S. a parent-teacher association or Parent-Teacher-Student Association is a formal organization composed of parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a public or private school. Most public and private K-8 schools in the U.S. have a PTA, a...
meetings, churches, and anyone else who would listen, traveling the country, sitting on the boards of various AIDS organizations, and hoping to use what time he had left to prevent others from sharing his fate. At the age of 19, his work came into national focus when Eric Morganthaler wrote a front page article about him for the Wall Street Journal, resulting in talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
interviews by Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and former talk show host...
, Phil Donahue
Phil Donahue
Phillip John "Phil" Donahue is an American media personality, writer, and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, also known as Donahue, was the first to use a talk show format. The show had a 26-year run on U.S...
and Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
. Though Zamora was gay, he chose to not make that explicit point to school children, preferring to emphasize to them that he got the disease through unprotected sex, so as to underscore the fact that both homosexuals and heterosexuals could contract HIV. On July 12, 1993, he testified before the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, arguing for more explicit HIV/AIDS educational programs, saying, “If you want to reach me as a young man – especially a young gay man of color – then you need to give me information in a language and vocabulary I can understand and relate to."
In 1993, Zamora met a fellow AIDS educator named Sean Sasser during a gay/lesbian march in Washington D.C., when both were involved with other people, and they became friends. The constant travel took its toll on Zamora, who at times was so tired that he was forced to cancel speaking engagements.
The Real World
In mid-1993, Zamora became aware that MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
was casting for the next season of their reality TV show
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
, The Real World
The Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco is the third season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships...
, which would take place in San Francisco. His best friend and roommate, Alex Escarano, convinced him to put together an audition tape, arguing that he could reach more people simply by living in The Real World house than through the cross-country travel that exhausted him. Six months later, Zamora was informed that he had been chosen to be a castmate on the show, beating out 25,000 applicants.
Zamora and his six castmates (Mohammed Bilal, Rachel Campos, Pam Ling
Pam Ling
Pam Ling is a Chinese American physician, best-known as a castmate on The Real World: San Francisco, the third season of MTV's long-running reality television show.-On the Real World:...
, Cory Murphy, David "Puck" Rainey, and Judd Winick
Judd Winick
Judd Winick is an American comic book, comic strip and television writer/artist and former reality television personality...
) moved into the house at 953 Lombard Street on Russian Hill on February 12, 1994. While the producers informed the other six housemates that they would be living with someone HIV-positive, they did not tell them who it was. The first to meet Zamora was Cory Murphy, who traveled to the house with Zamora. During their trip, he told her he had AIDS. Zamora quickly bonded with his housemates. Zamora informed his roommate, Judd Winick, that he was the one with AIDS by telling him he was an AIDS educator, and the rest of the cast by showing them a scrapbook
Scrapbook
Scrapbook can refer to:* Scrapbooking, the process of making a scrapbook* Scrapbook , a Mac OS application* Scrapbook , a Switchblade Symphony album* Scrapbook * ScrapBook, a Firefox extension...
of his career as an AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
educator. Another castmate, Rachel Campos, became uncomfortable with this, and initially distanced herself from Zamora, stating that she wanted to know how this would affect her, but said nothing for fear of seeming intolerant. Zamora took this as an act of rejection on her part, though the two later formed a rapport
Rapport
Rapport is a term used to describe, in common terms, the relationship of two or more people who are in sync or on the same wavelength because they feel similar and/or relate well to each other....
in the second episode, in which Zamora addressed her concerns about his condition by educating her about HIV and AIDS. Nonetheless, Zamora later took offense at jokes about homosexuals that Rachel engaged in with David "Puck" Rainey.
Winick, who became best friends with Zamora, stated that Zamora had an almost "clairvoyant" ability to broach sensitive subjects, and still sensing that Winick had lingering doubts about sharing a room with him, Zamora educated Winick on ways in which the virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
could and could not be transmitted, and did so subtly, through casual conversation, so that Winick did not even realize it.
As the weeks went on, Winick and castmate Pam Ling
Pam Ling
Pam Ling is a Chinese American physician, best-known as a castmate on The Real World: San Francisco, the third season of MTV's long-running reality television show.-On the Real World:...
often attended Zamora's lectures at schools in the Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, which allowed them to learn more about HIV and AIDS. Castmate Cory Murphy joined the trio about halfway through their stay in the loft, often joining them on outings.
Sean Sasser had been living in San Francisco for a couple of years, so when Zamora moved into the loft, he and Sean began dating. Zamora asked the show's producers for permission to go out without cameras, so that he and Sasser could get to know one another in a more natural setting. The producers allowed this, and the two young men fell in love. Sasser proposed to Zamora, and the two exchanged vows in a commitment ceremony in the loft. Their relationship was nominated for "Favorite Love Story" at the 2008 Real Worlds Awards Bash.
Zamora came into personal conflict with housemate Rainey from the beginning of their stay in the house. In addition to the various personality traits of Rainey's with which all the roommates took issue, Rainey mocked Zamora's Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n accent, denigrated his career as an educator, and made aforementioned gay-related jokes that offended Zamora. Winick described Rainey as "obnoxious" and "homophobic", and Zamora, feeling that the stress of his confrontations with Rainey was contributing to his deteriorating health, announced he would move out. The entire cast voted instead to evict Rainey from the house. Zamora’s health continued to deteriorate, however, and he suffered night sweats, Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia, and weight loss, and slept more frequently. Although he was able to participate in activities like parasailing during the group’s trip to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, the cast grew more worried about him nonetheless, often covering up for him during their weekly "confessional" interviews with the producers by telling them that Zamora was doing fine when they knew otherwise.
After The Real World and death
The cast moved out of the loft on June 19, 1994, and the first episodes of The Real World: San FranciscoThe Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco is the third season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships...
began airing a week later. Zamora visited his family in Miami before returning to San Francisco to live with Sasser. When Winick, Zamora, Murphy, and Ling met again that August for a reunion party, Zamora's health and appearance had worsened, and having previously been talkative, he was often silent for long periods, finding it difficult to follow conversations or remember locations of places he had known for years. When Zamora was in New York for an ultimately canceled interview with CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's This Morning
This Morning
This Morning may refer to:* This Morning , a British daytime television show* This Morning , a Canadian radio show* CBS This Morning and This Morning, former names of the American morning show The Early Show...
, his contacts at MTV convinced him to see a doctor, but when he arrived at the MTV offices, he did not know where he was. On August 17, Zamora checked into St. Vincent’s Hospital
Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center
Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers ' was a healthcare system, anchored by its flagship hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, locally referred to as "St. Vincent's". St. Vincent's was founded in 1849 and closed in 2010...
, and was diagnosed with toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid family. Animals are infected by eating infected meat, by ingestion of feces of a cat that has itself...
, a condition which causes brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
lesions, fatigue, headaches and confusion
Mental confusion
Confusion of a pathological degree usually refers to loss of orientation sometimes accompanied by disordered consciousness and often memory Confusion (from Latin confusĭo, -ōnis, noun of action from confundere "to pour together", also "to confuse") of a pathological degree usually refers to loss...
. While medication alleviated the toxoplasmosis, further tests, including a biopsy
Biopsy
A biopsy is a medical test involving sampling of cells or tissues for examination. It is the medical removal of tissue from a living subject to determine the presence or extent of a disease. The tissue is generally examined under a microscope by a pathologist, and can also be analyzed chemically...
, revealed he had progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy , also known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalitis, is a rare and usually fatal viral disease that is characterized by progressive damage or inflammation of the white matter of the brain at multiple locations .It occurs almost exclusively in...
(PML), a rare and usually fatal viral inflammation of the brain that breaks down the electrical impulses of the nervous system
Nervous system
The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...
. Although only 1% of AIDS patients contract PML, it usually dissipates on its own in patients with higher T-cell counts of 300-400. More serious symptoms of the illness can include paralysis
Paralysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
or aphasia
Aphasia
Aphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
. At the time, Zamora’s T-cell count was 32, and the inflammation was attacking the frontal lobe of his brain, causing him short-term memory loss. Zamora was given three to four months to live.
On September 3, about three weeks after checking into St. Vincent’s, Zamora was flown to Miami to be with his family. The PML slowly took away Zamora’s ability to speak, though when then-President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
called Zamora to thank him for his work, Zamora expressed elation at the call, and was able to respond. Clinton, along with a Zamora family friend named Alonso R. del Portillo, Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
Janet Reno
Janet Reno
Janet Wood Reno is a former Attorney General of the United States . She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11...
, Secretary of Health and Human Services
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, concerned with health matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet...
Donna Shalala
Donna Shalala
Donna Edna Shalala served for eight years as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton and has been president of the University of Miami, a private university in Coral Gables, Florida, since 2001. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest...
, and Florida Congresswoman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1989. She is a member of the Republican Party....
, reached an agreement with Cuba that would admit 20,000 Cubans per year. The Zamoras would be among the first, and would arrive in the next couple of weeks, reuniting the family for the first time in 15 years.
On October 21, Winick announced to the press that MTV had begun a trust in order to pay for Zamora's medical costs, as Zamora had no medical insurance.
During the wait for the family members from Cuba, Zamora developed a high fever and was admitted to Mercy Hospital. Wishing not to subject his family to a slow and prolonged death as had occurred with his mother, Zamora stated his wish not to be kept alive by artificial means. Hospitalized and unable to speak for almost a month, being fed intravenously, and becoming unresponsive, his family honored his wishes, and withdrew life support
Life support
Life support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...
, including medication, food and water. Surrounded by his family, Escarno, Winick, and Ling, Zamora died at 4:40 a.m. EST on November 11, 1994, the day after the final episode of The Real World: San Francisco aired. He was buried on November 13 at Vista Memorial Gardens in Miami Lakes, Florida.
Legacy and tribute
After his death, Zamora was publicly praised by President Bill Clinton and Donna Shalala for his leadership and work in educating high school students, saying that through his appearances on The Real World, Pedro had become a part of viewers’ families, and that all people who watched the show could now say that they “knew” someone who had lived with AIDS.MTV broadcast A Tribute to Pedro Zamora, a special memorial program, in his honor.
A street in Miami (SW 59th Street) was given the name "Pedro Zamora Way", although it is not in Hialeah, where he lived.
A number of organizations were created in Pedro's name, including National Pedro Zamora Foundation, which was founded by Winick, Ling, Mily Zamora, and Sasser, The Pedro Zamora Memorial Fund, which was created by the AIDS Action Foundation, the Pedro Zamora Youth Clinic, The Pedro Zamora Public Policy Fellowship and the Pedro Zamora Youth HIV Clinic. Winick, Ling, Mily Zamora and Sasser eventually distanced themselves from the Foundation due to conflicts with its president, Brian Quintana.
Winick continued lecturing on behalf of Pedro for three years, and his friendship with Zamora helped shape his subsequent work as a comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
writer and artist. His autobiographical graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
, Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned, was published in September 2000. It was awarded and nominated for numerous awards, including six American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
awards, a nomination for an Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
, won Winick his first GLAAD
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is a non-governmental media monitoring organization which promotes the image of LGBT people in the media...
award, has been praised by creators such as Frank Miller
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
, Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
, and Armistead Maupin
Armistead Maupin
Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. is an American writer, best known for his Tales of the City series of novels, based in San Francisco.-Early life:...
, and has been incorporated into school curricula
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
across the country. Winick's experiences with Pedro would also help shape his work in mainstream superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
comics, which would receive considerable media attention for storylines in Green Lantern
Green Lantern
The Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
and Green Arrow
Green Arrow
Green Arrow is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, he first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 in November 1941. His secret identity is Oliver Queen, billionaire and former mayor of fictional Star City...
which explored gay or AIDS-related themes.
Bunim-Murray Productions produced a film, Pedro
Pedro (film)
Pedro is a 2008 American film about the openly gay, Cuban-American AIDS educator and television personality, Pedro Zamora, who became famous as a castmember on MTV's reality television series, The Real World: San Francisco. It was produced by Bunim-Murray Productions, the same company that produces...
, directed by Nick Oceano, dramatizing Zamora's life. The film was an Official Selection at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. In the film, which is Bunim-Murray's first scripted project, Zamora is portrayed by Alex Loynaz.
External links
- Pedro Zamora at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...