Pedro Zamora Died 20 Years Ago Today

Pedro Zamora, the activist who put a face to AIDS for millions of young Americans via MTV's The Real World, died 20 years ago today of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, the previously (and once again) rare brain disease that took the lives of so many. Zamora's commitment ceremony with his boyfriend, Sean Sasser, was the first in television history. The couple first met at the 1993 March On Washington, which is where I also (briefly) met Zamora through my then-boss, who was on the board of the NAMES Project. Sasser died last year of mesothelioma. Pedro Zamora's time on the national stage was far too brief, but his impact on this country's perception of HIV and people living with AIDS remains.