1972–1988: Early life Pedro Zamora was born in
Diezmero, and Zoraida Díaz, In 1980, when Zamora was eight, his family left Cuba for the United States during the
Mariel boatlift. After five days of processing in Cuba, the entire family was to board when, hours before boarding, Cuban officials ruled that his four older brothers were too close to draft age and had to remain. His oldest sister, a communist official, chose to stay. His older sister Mily helped raise him. Zamora focused on his schoolwork as a means of coping with his mother's death. He was an
honor student, president of the Science Club, and captain of the
cross country team. He excelled socially as well; his
Hialeah High School classmates elected him as Most Intellectual and Best All-Around. Although
AIDS awareness was rising in America, Zamora was not educated about safe sex and AIDS prevention, as such things were not mentioned in school, with the exception of one guest lecture by a doctor who visited Zamora's class when he was in the seventh grade. According to
Judd Winick's
Pedro and Me, AIDS and its victims were characterized by the doctor as "deviants, drug addicts, prostitutes".
1989–93: HIV-positive diagnosis and activism In late 1989, in his junior year of high school, 17-year-old Zamora donated blood during a
Red Cross blood drive. A month later, he received a letter from the Red Cross informing him that his blood tested "reactive", though it did not specify for what. Zamora decided to be tested for
HIV, and on November 9, 1989, the results confirmed he was HIV-positive. His family was devastated but remained supportive. Zamora's goal was to graduate from high school before he died, and he did so in 1990. Five months later, he suffered a severe case of
shingles. Upon recovery, Zamora joined a Miami-based HIV/AIDS resource center called Body Positive. There he met others with HIV and AIDS, learned more about the disease and how he could still have a fulfilling life. Soon thereafter, he began to talk about his condition to others, wanting to raise awareness in his community. He lectured at schools for all ages, at
PTA meetings, and in churches. In five years, he spoke nationwide hundreds of times, attended an international AIDS conference, and even served on the board of a charitable trust endowed by insurance companies—despite being denied insurance for himself. In 1991, his work came to national attention when Eric Morganthaler wrote a front-page article about him for the
Wall Street Journal. The publicity resulted in invitations to
talk show interviews by
Geraldo Rivera,
Phil Donahue and
Oprah Winfrey. 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." Zamora attended the 1993 Lesbian and Gay March on
Washington, where he met
Sean Sasser, also an AIDS educator, who would eventually become his partner. Sasser was moved by Zamora's presence and conviction, recalling, "I was kind of like, 'Wow.' I had never run across someone who was as good at it as he was." Sasser lived in San Francisco, and shortly after he'd met Zamora, he'd learned that producers of the
MTV reality TV show The Real World were looking for an HIV positive person to cast in the 1994 season in San Francisco. At the time, Ling was the only castmate with background on how HIV was transmitted, being a
medical school student. All of the castmates were receptive to Zamora, but
Rachel Campos privately expressed (during the show's routine 'confessionals') her discomfort with Zamora's being HIV-positive. She was concerned how HIV would possibly affect her and the others in the house. She was afraid to bring up her concerns during the initial meeting, for fear of seeming intolerant. Thus, Campos initially distanced herself from Zamora, which Zamora interpreted as rejection. Later, Zamora educated Campos about HIV and AIDS, which eased her apprehension. Despite very differing political views, they formed a rapport as the show progressed. On one episode, Campos brought Zamora to meet her Spanish-Mexican family in Arizona. By the season's end, however, Zamora expressed his disappointment to Campos that they did not become the close friends that they could have been. Winick stated that Zamora had an almost "
clairvoyant" ability to broach sensitive subjects. Despite Winick's never voicing it, Zamora sensed that Winick had lingering worries about sharing a room with him. Zamora educated Winick subtly through casual conversation, so much so that Winick did not even realize it. In later episodes, Winick, Ling, and Murphy often attended Zamora's lectures at schools in the
Bay Area, wanting to learn more about HIV and AIDS. During filming of the show, Zamora and Sean Sasser began dating, and quickly became a couple. Sasser eventually proposed to Zamora, and the two exchanged vows in a
commitment ceremony held in the Real World house. In so doing, they made history as the first same-sex commitment ceremony on TV. Midway through filming, Zamora's health suddenly declined. He was suffering
night sweats, bouts of
pneumonia, fatigue, and weight loss. Producer Jon Murray stated, "He got sick much faster than he expected. That's when he made us promise to tell his story till the end."
1994: After The Real World and death The cast vacated the Real World house on June 19, 1994, and the first episodes of
The Real World: San Francisco 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 in August for a reunion party, Zamora was visibly ill. Once talkative, he was often silent, having difficulty following conversations, and forgetting familiar places. He went to the MTV offices in New York, and could not recognize where he was. though Mily Zamora stated that whether he understood who was calling is unclear, given the severity of his PML. He had received
Medicaid, but was rejected for any private company coverage due his
pre-existing condition of HIV. He was buried on November 13. ==Legacy and tributes==