[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 308 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 308
Honoring the life, legacy, and memory of Pedro Pablo Zamora y Diaz, an
extraordinary educator and activist, and a pioneer in the battle
against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 31, 2009
Mr. Hastings of Florida (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Frank of
Massachusetts, Mrs. Christensen, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Meeks of New York,
Mr. Polis of Colorado, Ms. Watson, Mrs. Capps, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Moore
of Wisconsin, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, and Ms. Lee
of California) submitted the following resolution; which was referred
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Honoring the life, legacy, and memory of Pedro Pablo Zamora y Diaz, an
extraordinary educator and activist, and a pioneer in the battle
against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Whereas Pedro Zamora was an internationally renowned educator and activist whose
courage, selflessness, and zest for life inspired a generation of
Americans to confront their fears, misconceptions, and ignorance about
HIV/AIDS and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT)
community;
Whereas Pedro Pablo Zamora y Diaz was born on February 29, 1972, on the
outskirts of Havana, Cuba, and was the youngest of Hector and Zoraida
Zamora's eight children;
Whereas government officials forced the Zamora family to leave Pedro's four
older brothers and older sister in Cuba when the Zamora's boarded a
crowded boat to the United States on May 30, 1980;
Whereas by October 1980, 125,000 Cubans had made the journey to Florida in what
became known as the Mariel Boat Lift;
Whereas despite the pain of separation, the Zamora family started a new life in
Hialeah, Florida;
Whereas the Zamora family was struck by tragedy five years later when Pedro's
mother died from skin cancer when he was 13 years old;
Whereas in order to deal with the loss of his mother, Pedro Zamora immersed
himself in academics and extracurricular activities, becoming an honor
student, president of the science club, and captain of the cross-country
team, and was voted ``most intellectual'' and ``most all around'' at
Hialeah High School;
Whereas Pedro began having unprotected sex with multiple men at the age of 14 in
an attempt to fill the void that was left by his mother's death, and to
cope with the insecurity that he felt as a gay youth of color;
Whereas unbeknown to Pedro, the first Surgeon General's report on HIV/AIDS was
issued to the public in 1986, around the same time that Zamora began
having unprotected intercourse;
Whereas the 1986 report stated that comprehensive sex education was one of the
most powerful weapons against the emerging epidemic, and that education
should begin at the lowest grade possible to provide scientifically
accurate information about heterosexual and homosexual relationships and
about preventing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections;
Whereas the 1986 Surgeon General report estimated that HIV/AIDS had claimed more
than 15,000 lives in the United States;
Whereas the report acknowledged that HIV/AIDS had a disproportionate effect
among Latinos and Blacks, with 80 percent of all pediatric HIV/AIDS
cases occurring in Latino and Black children;
Whereas Pedro Zamora donated blood at a Red Cross blood drive during his junior
year of high school and received notice that his blood had tested
``reactive'';
Whereas, six months later, on November 9, 1989, at the age of 17, Pedro Zamora
received confirmation that he had contracted the HIV virus;
Whereas the sex education that Pedro Zamora received within his Miami school
stigmatized HIV/AIDS, portrayed homosexuality as shameful, and failed to
provide him and other students with a relevant, factual, and thorough
understanding of HIV/AIDS and healthy relationships;
Whereas Pedro Zamora joined a Miami-based HIV/AIDS resource center called Body
Positive where he met others with HIV/AIDS, educated himself about HIV/
AIDS, and discovered a desire to share his newfound vision for combating
ignorance about the disease;
Whereas despite his many academic accomplishments and his initial desire to go
into medicine, Pedro Zamora chose to devote his talents as a thinker and
communicator to a career in AIDS education and advocacy;
Whereas Pedro Zamora began raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in his local
community in South Florida, and especially within the Latino community;
Whereas after graduating from high school in 1990, Pedro began to lecture at
schools from the primary to collegial level, churches, community
centers, and other venues around the country, and talked about the need
for evidence-based education for preventing and managing HIV/AIDS,
forming healthy relationships, de-stigmatizing HIV/AIDS, and eradicating
homophobia;
Whereas in mid-1993, Pedro Zamora sent his audition tape to the producers of
MTV's ``The Real World'', and was chosen out of more than 25,000
applicants, to live in front of the camera with six other cast-mates in
San Francisco for more than four months;
Whereas in 1994, Pedro Zamora's historic appearance as one of the first openly
gay men of color living with HIV/AIDS on MTV's reality television series
``The Real World: San Francisco'' brought international attention to the
realities of HIV/AIDS and LGBT issues;
Whereas Pedro Zamora became close friends with fellow housemate Judd Winick, who
would later continue Zamora's work by sharing his story and speaking
about HIV/AIDS at schools and other venues;
Whereas Pedro Zamora met his future partner, Sean Sasser, during the filming of
``The Real World'', and the two exchanged vows in a commitment ceremony
on the show;
Whereas Eric Morgenthaler of The Wall Street Journal wrote a series of articles
about Pedro Zamora and his AIDS education efforts, bringing him to
national prominence;
Whereas Pedro Zamora also appeared on such television shows as ``Geraldo'' and
``The Oprah Winfrey Show'';
Whereas, on November 1, 1993, Pedro Zamora spoke about living with AIDS at a
Capitol Hill reception;
Whereas, on July 12, 1994, Pedro testified during a Congressional hearing on
AIDS prevention and said, ``What we need is the collective will to care
about young people and about people with different backgrounds and make
sure that one day people grow up in a world without AIDS.'';
Whereas in 1994, President Bill Clinton and then-Secretary of Health and Human
Services Donna Shalala personally recognized and thanked Pedro Zamora
for his leadership and work on the AIDS Action Council Board and for
humanizing and personalizing those living with HIV/AIDS;
Whereas, on August 17, 1994, Pedro Zamora checked into St. Vincent's Hospital in
New York City with diagnosed toxoplasmosis, a condition which causes
brain lesions that result in fatigue, headaches, and confusion;
Whereas this condition resulted because of a severely compromised immune system;
Whereas although the revolutionary antiretroviral cocktails that improve the
length and quality of life of persons with HIV/AIDS were not available
until 1996, mono-therapies and medical treatments for symptoms were
still available to HIV/AIDS patients who could pay for care;
Whereas Pedro, like many young people, was uninsured and could not finance this
care;
Whereas Pedro Zamora was diagnosed with progressive multifocal
leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare and fatal viral inflammation of the
brain that breaks down the electrical impulses of the nervous system;
Whereas, at the age of 22, Pedro Zamora was given three to four months to live;
Whereas with the help of President Bill Clinton, a Zamora family friend Alonso
R. del Portillo, then-Attorney General Janet Reno, then-Secretary of
Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and Florida Congresswoman
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, an agreement was reached between the United States
and Cuba that would allow the admission of 20,000 Cubans per year,
including Pedro Zamora's older brothers and older sister, reuniting the
family for the first time in 15 years;
Whereas, on October 21, 1994, Pedro's closest friends announced that MTV created
the Pedro Zamora Memorial Fund in order to pay for his medical costs and
finance further AIDS research and education projects;
Whereas, on November 11, 1994, Pedro Zamora's family honored his wish to not be
sustained by artificial means, and withdrew life support;
Whereas surrounded by his family, friends, and partner Sean Sasser, Pedro Zamora
died on November 11, 1994, at 4:40 a.m., the day after the final episode
of ``The Real World: San Francisco'' aired;
Whereas Pedro Zamora was buried on November 13, 1994, at Vista Memorial Gardens
in Miami Lakes, Florida;
Whereas several Pedro Zamora memorial funds and fellowships have since been
established around the country to continue his mission of breaking down
the barriers of race and sexuality to raise HIV/AIDS awareness; and
Whereas ``Pedro'', a movie directed by Nick Oceano and written by Dustin Lance
Black, dramatizes the life and legacy of Pedro Zamora: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) honors the life, legacy, and memory of Pedro Pablo
Zamora y Diaz, an extraordinary educator and activist, and a
pioneer in the battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic;
(2) supports current and emerging educators and activists,
especially those of color and who are multilingual, who adhere
to a comprehensive sex education agenda that is rooted in
empirical and scientific evidence, is culturally competent, and
promotes the tolerance of sexual orientation and the
destigmatization of HIV/AIDS;
(3) addresses the high rates of uninsured and underinsured,
lack of education, cultural factors, and lack of knowledge
about status that results in less than 30 percent of HIV-
infected persons in the United States receiving life-saving
antiretroviral drugs leading to premature death, disability,
and heightened transmissibility of infection, particularly
among Blacks and Latinos;
(4) commits to supporting prevention and treatment
facilities and programs in areas and States that have
historically and are presently experiencing high rates of HIV/
AIDS infections and have high uninsured rates, such as New
York, California, the rural Deep South, and South Florida;
(5) commits to adequately supporting emerging and existing
programs at the Federal, State, and local levels that address
the disproportionate effect of HIV/AIDS on communities of
color, particularly young Black and Latino men who have sex
with men (MSM); and
(6) commits to investing in programs and initiatives that
are dedicated to providing LGBT persons, especially those of
color, with the necessary support, resources, and tools to
ensure that the civil rights, dignity, and health of LGBT
persons are protected.
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