[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 31, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E830-E831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMEMORATING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF PEDRO ZAMORA, WORLD RENOWNED HIV/
                       AIDS EDUCATOR AND ACTIVIST

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 31, 2009

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce a 
resolution that pays tribute to Pedro Zamora, a world renowned educator 
and activist who moved millions to confront their fears and 
misconceptions about HIV/AIDS and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and 
Transgender (LGBT) community.
  Pedro Pablo Zamora y Diaz was born on February 29, 1972, in the 
outskirts of Havana, Cuba, the eighth and youngest child of a tight-
knit family. Like countless others, the Zamora family left Cuba's 
shores for a better life. And on May 30, 1980, Pedro, his brother, 
sister, and parents boarded a crowded boat and began the 25-hour 
treacherous voyage to Hialeah, Florida, a suburb of Miami. Pedro was 
eight years old.
  Five years later, tragedy struck the Zamora family when Pedro lost 
his beloved mother to skin cancer. The precocious teenager responded by 
immersing 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'' by his peers.
  However, it was Pedro's actions outside of school which changed the 
course of his life. Struggling with being gay and seeking to fill the 
void that was created by his mother's death, the 14-year-old honor 
student began having unprotected sex with multiple men.
  Unbeknown to Pedro, the first Surgeon General's report on HIV/AIDS 
was issued around the same time. At the height of the Reagan era and 
the ``War on Drugs'' another war was being waged against a new disease 
that was killing an alarming number of people in the gay community and 
beyond.
  Ironically, the Surgeon General's report stated that comprehensive 
sex education was the most powerful weapon against HIV/AIDS and should 
begin at the lowest grade possible. The report also mentioned the 
importance of teaching children about healthy heterosexual and 
homosexual relationships, and acknowledged that HIV/AIDS had a 
disproportionate effect among Latinos and blacks.
  And yet, this lifesaving message failed to trickle down into many 
classrooms across the country. 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.
  On November 9, 1989, Pedro Zamora received confirmation that he had 
contracted the HIV virus. He was 17 years old.
  Refusing to let the devastating news damper his spirit, Zamora joined 
a Miami-based HIV/AIDS resource center called Body Positive, where he 
met others who were living with HIV/AIDS. A new desire to educate 
others about AIDS was ignited, and Pedro decided to devote his talents 
as a thinker and communicator to a career in AIDS education.
  Pedro began raising awareness about HIV/AIDS within the Latino 
community in South Florida. He lectured at schools from the primary to 
collegial level, churches, community centers, and other venues around 
the country. He spoke about the need for evidence-based education for 
preventing and managing HIV/AIDS, forming healthy relationships, de-
stigmatizing HIV/AIDS and combating homophobia.
  In mid-1993, Pedro Zamora sent his audition tape to the producers of 
MTV's television reality series The Real World. Out of more than 25,000 
applicants, he was chosen to live in front of the camera along with six 
other cast-mates in San Francisco for over four months.
  In the following year, Zamora made history on The Real World as one 
of the first openly gay men living with HIV/AIDS featured on a 
television series in the United States. Pedro's activism, charisma, 
struggles with HIV/AIDS and relationships were captured on film--
including a blossoming romance with Sean Sasser, another man of color 
living with HIV/AIDS. In another historical first, the two pledged 
their love to each other in a commitment ceremony on the show.
  Soon, Pedro's story and efforts received national attention from The 
Wall Street Journal, Geraldo, and Oprah Winfrey. But, Pedro had his 
sights set on Washington, D.C. In 1993, Zamora spoke about living with 
AIDS as a gay man of color at a Capitol Hill reception, and in 1994, he 
testified during a Congressional hearing on HIV/AIDS prevention. In the 
following months, President Bill Clinton and 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.
  However, this gifted and courageous young man, like many others, was 
uninsured. And his lack of insurance proved to be as deadly as the 
virus that was plaguing his body. In August 1994, Pedro Zamora checked 
into St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City and was diagnosed with a 
rare and fatal viral inflammation of the brain resulting from a 
severely suppressed immune system. At the age of 22, Pedro was told 
that he had three to four months to live.
  On November 11, 1994, Pedro Zamora died in the company of his family, 
partner Sean, and friends. He was buried two days later in Miami Lakes, 
Florida. Numerous memorial funds and fellowships have been established 
in Pedro's memory, and in 2008, a film that dramatized his life and 
legacy was completed.
  Madam Speaker, 15 years after Pedro's death, HIV/AIDS has become one 
of the most

[[Page E831]]

serious global health concerns in modern history and has spread to 
every continent, infecting and affecting people across the lines of 
race, class, religion, and sexual orientation. Sadly, a quarter of HIV/
AIDS infected persons are unaware of their status and less than 30% of 
HIV-infected persons receive anti-retroviral treatment. Latinos and 
blacks are still disproportionately contracting and dying from AIDS. My 
home state of Florida has consistently ranked third in the nation in 
the number of cases of HIV/AIDS. And, the majority of infected persons 
reside in South Florida, which also has the highest concentration of 
uninsured people in the state.
  In the absence of a cure, prevention, education, and antiretroviral 
drugs still remain our best weapons against HIV/AIDS. Culturally 
competent and age appropriate education about sex, sexually transmitted 
infections (STI), and treatment and prevention options must be 
available in our nation's schools, prisons and communities. And, the 
de-stigmatization of HIV/AIDS, sexual behavior, and sexuality remain no 
less important today than it was a decade and a half ago.
  During his testimony before Congress, 22-year-old Pedro Zamora 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.'' His words are timeless, and 
challenge us to be diligent in our efforts to stop HIV/AIDS, and the 
disease of intolerance in this country. I urge my colleagues to support 
this resolution commemorating the life, sacrifices, and grace of a 
remarkable man and teacher who has left an enduring memory and legacy 
that will inspire generations to come.

                          ____________________