Editing Pedro Zamora (section)

==Biography==
===1972–1988: Early life===
Pedro Zamora was born in [[Diezmero]],<ref name=WallStreetJournal/> [[San Miguel del Padrón]], on the outskirts of [[Havana]], [[Cuba]],<ref name="wpbt"/> to Héctor Zamora, a food-warehouse worker,<ref name=People11.28.94>{{cite news |last=Israel |first=Betsy |date=November 28, 1994 |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20104536,00.html |title=HIV, And Positive, Pedro Zamora of MTV's ''Real World'' Lived His Too-Brief Life To Its Limit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215927/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20104536,00.html |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead |work=[[People (magazine)|People]] |volume=42 |issue=22 }}</ref> and Zoraida Díaz,<ref name="wpbt"/> a housewife.<ref name=People11.28.94/> Zamora was their eighth and youngest child. Díaz had been told she could not have any more children, thus Zamora's birth on a [[leap day]] was seen as charmed. Héctor had fought in the [[Cuban Revolution]] for [[Fidel Castro]], but became disillusioned with changes after Castro came to power. This earned him an unfavorable reputation with local [[informant]]s. As a result, life became increasingly difficult for the Zamoras, who lived in a small house with a dirt floor. Zoraida traded on the [[black market]] for food.<ref>[[Winick, Judd]] (2000). ''[[Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned]]''. Henry Holt & Co. pp. 33-36.</ref>

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.<ref name=PedroAndMe37-40>Winick (2000). pp. 37-40.</ref> His oldest sister, a communist official, chose to stay.<ref name=People11.28.94/> The older siblings insisted, over their parents' objections, to leave without them to give their younger siblings a better life. Zamora and his parents, his sister Mily, and his brother Jesús left in a boat filled with 250 people that had been built for half that number. The Zamoras settled in [[Hialeah, Florida]], a suburb of [[Miami]].<ref name=PedroAndMe37-40/>

Zamora's mother died of [[skin cancer]] when he was 13.<ref name=People11.28.94/><ref name=PedroAndMe41-44>Winick (2000). pp. 41-44.</ref> His older sister Mily helped raise him.<ref name=MiamiHerald>{{Cite news |last=Rothaus |first=Steve |date=March 22, 2009 |url=http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/03/years-after-his-death-aids-activist-pedro-zamora-is-celebrated-on-film.html |title=Years After his Death, A Young AIDS Activist's Life is Celebrated on Film: Remembering Pedro |work=[[The Miami Herald]] |page=1E |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013191859/https://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/03/years-after-his-death-aids-activist-pedro-zamora-is-celebrated-on-film.html |archive-date=October 13, 2022 |url-status=live }}</ref> Zamora focused on his schoolwork as a means of coping with his mother's death. He was an [[honors student|honor student]], president of the Science Club, and captain of the [[cross-country running|Cross-Country]] team. He excelled socially as well; his [[Hialeah High School]] classmates elected him as Most Intellectual and Best All-Around.<ref name=PedroAndMe41-44/> He initially planned to become a doctor, as his mother's death had inspired him to study medicine.

At 14, Zamora's father discovered that he had a boyfriend. His father was accepting of Zamora's homosexuality, but concerned about [[homophobia]] and its potential dangers.<ref name=PedroAndMe41-44/><ref name=CBR>{{cite news |last=Manning |first=Shaun |date=April 1, 2000 |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=20641 |title=Judd Winick on MTV's ''Pedro'' Movie |work=[[Comic Book Resources]] }}</ref> 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".<ref name=PedroAndMe45-46>Winick. 2000 (2000). pp. 45-46.</ref>

===1989–93: HIV-positive diagnosis and activism===
[[Image:Pedrozamora1993.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Pedro Zamora (left) with Alonso R. del Portillo in 1993]]
In late 1989, in his junior year of high school, 17-year-old Zamora donated blood during a [[Red Cross]] [[blood donation|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.<ref name=People11.28.94/><ref name=PedroAndMe45-46/><ref name=SunSentinel>Greenbaum, Kurt (February 5, 1992). [http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-02-05/news/9201060923_1_aids-virus-zamora-school-students "One Of Their Own, Teen-ager with AIDS Virus Cautions Students"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113031836/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-02-05/news/9201060923_1_aids-virus-zamora-school-students |date=January 13, 2015 }}. ''[[Sun-Sentinel]]''. p. 1B</ref>
[[Image:PedroZamora1993.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Zamora in 1993]]
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.<ref name=Winick49-56>Winick (2000). pp. 49-56.</ref><ref name=Episode8>{{cite episode |title=Together and Apart |series=The Real World: San Francisco |season=3 |number=8 |network=MTV |airdate=August 18, 1994}}</ref> 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.<ref name=People11.28.94/><ref name=SunSentinel/><ref name=Winick49-56/>

Zamora soon became a full-time AIDS educator.<ref name=MiamiHerald/><ref name=PedroAndMe57-58>Winick (2000). pp. 57-58.</ref> He lectured at schools for all ages, at [[Parent-Teacher Association|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.<ref name="People11.28.94" /> The constant travel exhausted Zamora, sometimes forcing him to cancel speaking engagements.<ref name="PedroAndMe58-59">Winick (2000). pp. 58-59.</ref> 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]].<ref name="PedroAndMe57-58" /><ref name="peak">{{cite web |author=Vaillancourt, Daniel |url=http://www.peak.sfu.ca/gopher/94-2/issue11/zamora.ans |title=Pedro Zamora Tells All |publisher=The Peak. |volume=87 |issue=11 |date=July 11, 1994 |access-date=January 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514145901/http://www.peak.sfu.ca/gopher/94-2/issue11/zamora.ans |archive-date=May 14, 2011}}</ref> 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."<ref name="People11.28.94" /><ref name="aidsaction">{{cite web |url=http://www.aidsaction.org/pedro.htm |title=Pedro Zamora |publisher=Aidsaction.org |access-date=January 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504072238/http://www.aidsaction.org/pedro.htm |archive-date=May 4, 2008}}</ref>

Zamora attended the 1993 Lesbian and Gay March on [[Washington D.C.|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,<ref name="POZ">Jones, Anderson (June 1997). [http://www.poz.com/articles/241_1725.shtml "Nowhere Else to Go"]. ''[[POZ (magazine)|POZ]]''.</ref><ref name="PedroAndMe103-109"/><ref name="WashingtonPost">McGonough, Megan (August 13, 2013). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/sean-sasser-part-of-one-of-tvs-first-gay-romances-dies-at-44/2013/08/13/d6cc1a4c-035e-11e3-9259-e2aafe5a5f84_story.html "Sean Sasser, part of one of TV's first gay romances, dies at 44"]. ''[[The Washington Post]]''.</ref> and shortly after he'd met Zamora, he'd learned that producers of the [[MTV]] [[reality television|reality TV show]] ''[[The Real World: San Francisco|The Real World]]'' were looking for an HIV positive person to cast in the 1994 season in San Francisco.<ref name="POZ" />

===1993–94: ''The Real World''===
Zamora sent an audition tape for the show, thinking that he could reach more people simply by the national exposure than by constant travel.<ref name=peak/> Six months later, Zamora was cast on the show, beating out 25,000 applicants.<ref name=PedroAndMe58-59/>

Zamora and his castmates ([[The Real World: San Francisco#Cast|Mohammed Bilal]], [[Rachel Campos]], [[Pam Ling]], [[The Real World: San Francisco#Cast|Cory Murphy]], [[David "Puck" Rainey]], and [[Judd Winick]]) moved into the house at 953 [[Lombard Street, San Francisco|Lombard Street]] on [[Russian Hill]] on February 12, 1994. The producers had informed the other six castmates that one person was HIV-positive, but did not specify whom. Once all of the castmates were in the house, Zamora informed them that it was he who was HIV-positive, showing them a [[scrapbooking|scrapbook]] of his career as an [[AIDS]] educator.<ref>Winick (2000). pp. 61-67.</ref> 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.<ref name=ep1>{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/357648/questions.jhtml#id=1607521 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331113552/http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/357648/questions.jhtml#id=1607521 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 31, 2009 |title=Video of Episode 1 of ''The Real World: San Francisco'' ("Planes, Trains and Paddywagons") |publisher=MTV |date=March 28, 2009 |access-date=January 18, 2011}}</ref>

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.<ref>Winick (2000). pp. 68-71.</ref> In later episodes, Winick, Ling, and Murphy often attended Zamora's lectures at schools in the [[San Francisco Bay Area|Bay Area]], wanting to learn more about HIV and AIDS.<ref>Winick (2000). pp. 96-102.</ref><ref>Winick (2000). p. 111.</ref>

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.<ref name=PedroAndMe103-109/><ref name="CNN"/> Their relationship was nominated for "Favorite Love Story" at the 2008 ''Real Worlds Awards Bash''.<ref name="RWAwardsBash">{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/ontv/specials/real_world_awards/category.jhtml?catId=favorite_love_story&cpid=8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215105643/http://www.mtv.com/ontv/specials/real_world_awards/category.jhtml?catId=favorite_love_story&cpid=8 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 15, 2008 |title=Real World Awards Bash nominees for 'Favorite Love Story' |publisher=MTV |access-date=January 18, 2011}}</ref>

Midway through filming, Zamora's health suddenly declined. He was suffering [[night sweats]], bouts of [[Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia|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."<ref name=MiamiHerald/> The stress of the perpetual conflict between Zamora and castmate Rainey was contributing to his decline. Rainey's antagonism towards Zamora included mocking his Cuban accent, dismissing Zamora's and Sasser's relationship, and multiple homophobic comments. Zamora announced he was moving out, as Rainey's antics had become intolerable. The other castmates unanimously agreed that they wanted Zamora to stay, and evicted Rainey. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' ranked this episode #7 on its list of "32 Epic Moments in Reality-TV History".<ref name="Time"/>

Zamora was able to participate in activities like parasailing during the cast's trip to [[Hawaii]], giving viewers the impression that he was healthier than he actually was. The castmates knew he was unwell and often covered for him during their weekly confessional interviews, saying Zamora was doing fine when they knew otherwise.<ref>Winick (2000). pp. 114-115.</ref>

===1994: After ''The Real World'' and death===
[[Image:1994 Nov Pedro Zamora and family.jpg|thumb|right|Pedro Zamora a few days before his death with his father and most of his siblings.]]
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.<ref name=PedroAndMe119-137>Winick (2000). pp. 119-137.</ref>

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.<ref name=People11.28.94/><ref name=PedroAndMe119-137/> On August 17, Zamora checked into [[St. Vincent's Hospital, Manhattan|St. Vincent's Hospital]] and was diagnosed with [[toxoplasmosis]], a condition that causes [[brain]] [[lesions]], fatigue, [[headaches]] and [[mental confusion|confusion]]. Further tests revealed he had [[progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy]] (PML),<ref name=PedroAndMe119-137/><ref name=POZ/> a very rare and usually fatal viral inflammation of the brain that disrupts the electrical impulses of the [[nervous system]]. PML can dissipate on its own in patients with [[T-cell]] counts higher than 300–400. At the time, Zamora's T-cell count was 32. The inflammation was attacking the [[frontal lobes|frontal lobe]] of his brain, causing his short-term memory loss. Zamora was given three to four months to live.<ref name=PedroAndMe119-137/>

On September 3, about three weeks after checking into St. Vincent's, Zamora was flown to Mercy Hospital in Miami, and his family gathered around him.<ref name="Tribute"/><ref name=People11.28.94/> Then-President [[Bill Clinton]] called Zamora to thank him for his work.<ref name="Tribute" /> Zamora is said to have expressed elation and was able to respond,<ref name="PedroAndMe141-146">Winick (2000). pp. 141-146.</ref> though Mily Zamora stated that whether he understood who was calling is unclear, given the severity of his PML.<ref name="Reuters">{{cite news |url=http://www.qrd.org/qrd/media/television/1994/real.world.star.new.death-10.10.94 |title=AIDS activist, near death, to see family from Cuba |agency=Reuters |date=October 7, 1994 |access-date=January 18, 2011}}</ref><ref name="People11.28.94" />

As a gesture of gratitude for his work, Clinton asked if there was anything he could do for the Zamora family. They replied that they wanted Zamora's remaining siblings in Cuba to be with him in his final days. This resulted in Alonso R. del Portillo, [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Janet Reno]], [[United States Secretary of Health and Human Services|Secretary of Health and Human Services]] [[Donna Shalala]], and Florida [[United States House of Representatives|Congresswoman]] [[Ileana Ros-Lehtinen]] forming an agreement with Cuba that would admit 20,000 Cubans per year to the United States. Zamora's three brothers and their families arrived in the next couple of weeks, reuniting the family for the first time in 14 years.<ref name="People11.28.94" /><ref name="PedroAndMe141-146"/><ref name="Reuters"/>

On October 21, Winick announced that MTV had set up a trust fund in order to pay for Zamora's medical costs, as Zamora had no [[medical insurance]].<ref name="Tribute"/><ref name="People11.28.94"/><ref>[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,303927,00.html "'Real' Life Support"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203004435/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,303927,00.html |date=December 3, 2013 }}. ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''. September 30, 1994.</ref> He had received [[Medicaid]], but was rejected for any private company coverage due his [[pre-existing condition]] of HIV.<ref name="People11.28.94"/>

Before his hospitalization, Zamora told his family to not keep him alive by artificial means—his mother had a prolonged death, and he wanted to spare his family that pain. Zamora developed a high fever.<ref name="wpbt"/> Once he became unresponsive, his family honored his wishes and withdrew [[life support]]. Surrounded by his family, longtime friend Alex Escarano, Sasser, Winick, and Ling, Zamora died at 4:40&nbsp;a.m. [[North American Eastern Standard Time Zone|EST]] on November 11, 1994, at the age of 22, hours after the final episode of ''The Real World: San Francisco'' aired.<ref name="People11.28.94"/><ref name="MiamiHerald"/><ref name="PedroAndMe146-161">Winick (2000). pp. 146-161.</ref> He was buried on November 13.<ref name="PedroAndMe146-161"/>