Pedro Zamora

Memory Served: Sometime between 1993 and 1997, Las Pinas

Pedro Zamora was my model public speaker, educator, advocate. He was my inspiration when I decided to volunteer in HIV and AIDS outreach education work. His life and personal testimony, as they unfolded in the Real World: San Francisco helped me even resolve some very personal demons. I wasn't a screaming fan, but he will always be one of my most admired and respected.

Couldn't find on any excerpt on Youtube that I most fondly remember of Pedro's participation in the reality TV show. But still there are good uploads on Youtube about Pedro, including some tribute videos. But for the moment, this feature from the Daily Beast is best for me:

And it was the season of Pedro Zamora, the young, gay, HIV-positive man, whose living with the disease on camera, humanly, day-to-day with housemates, helped shape a young generation’s more inclusive view of homosexuality and living with HIV and AIDS. Of all the Real World seasons, this remains an engraved pop-cultural memory

Third Sunday of May the world observes the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial.