"Something amazing and enlightening and terrible and haunting happened"
November 11, 2014 7:54 AM Subscribe
Today is the 20th anniversary of the death of Pedro Zamora, the cast member of MTV's The Real World: San Francisco who was openly gay and lived with HIV.
Pedro Zamora, a Hero in the Real World (from June 2014): In the first few days, Zamora let him and the housemates know they couldn’t become HIV-positive through tears, spit, and sneezing. “He knew what we were thinking,” says Winick. “Pedro was being Pedro, just not for us, but the millions watching.
The Real World: San Francisco (streaming)
Zamora's love interest on the show, Sean Sasser, passed away in 2013.
Zamora was 22 when he died.
Pedro Zamora, a Hero in the Real World (from June 2014): In the first few days, Zamora let him and the housemates know they couldn’t become HIV-positive through tears, spit, and sneezing. “He knew what we were thinking,” says Winick. “Pedro was being Pedro, just not for us, but the millions watching.
The Real World: San Francisco (streaming)
Zamora's love interest on the show, Sean Sasser, passed away in 2013.
Zamora was 22 when he died.
Has it really been that long ago?
I remember Pedro as being my first exposure to openly gay culture--aside from a few friends who were gay but called themselves bi because they were afraid in our little shitkicker high school--and thinking he was amazingly brave and lovely.
posted by Kitteh at 8:19 AM on November 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
I remember Pedro as being my first exposure to openly gay culture--aside from a few friends who were gay but called themselves bi because they were afraid in our little shitkicker high school--and thinking he was amazingly brave and lovely.
posted by Kitteh at 8:19 AM on November 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
I just read the Beast's interview with Judd Winick and DAMMIT THERE ARE ONIONS IN MY OFFICE
posted by Kitteh at 8:25 AM on November 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 8:25 AM on November 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
i haven't listened to it yet, but judd posted this soundcloud link of him talking about pedro today.
posted by nadawi at 9:00 AM on November 11, 2014
posted by nadawi at 9:00 AM on November 11, 2014
also, i said it in the sean obit thread, but i'll i say it here too - i remain full of gratitude for pedro and sean. it meant so much to me as a teen in the middle of arkansas and is one of those things that shaped me.
posted by nadawi at 9:04 AM on November 11, 2014 [12 favorites]
posted by nadawi at 9:04 AM on November 11, 2014 [12 favorites]
We've come quite a way since that time, and I feel like Pedro was a big part of educating the public about not just AIDS, but the acceptance of gay people. I cannot imagine a character like that asshole Puck today, on TV, with his open homophobia - somehow I feel like Pedro standing up to him, and the others taking Pedro's side was a watershed moment, when this kind of homophobia was seen for the toxic hate it is. RIP Pedro, you crammed a lot of good deeds in this world, in your short 22 years.
posted by VikingSword at 9:14 AM on November 11, 2014 [10 favorites]
posted by VikingSword at 9:14 AM on November 11, 2014 [10 favorites]
Man, Puck was a huge dick.
posted by Fister Roboto at 9:36 AM on November 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Fister Roboto at 9:36 AM on November 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
I cannot imagine a character like that asshole Puck today, on TV, with his open homophobia
You can't? There sure are plenty of those assholes all over reality TV, from Duck Dynasty on down the line.
posted by blucevalo at 9:38 AM on November 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
You can't? There sure are plenty of those assholes all over reality TV, from Duck Dynasty on down the line.
posted by blucevalo at 9:38 AM on November 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
We've come quite a way since that time, and I feel like Pedro was a big part of educating the public about not just AIDS, but the acceptance of gay people.
Let's not forget: 12 years before Pedro passed away, the White House was literally cracking jokes about the epidemic.
.
posted by schmod at 9:51 AM on November 11, 2014 [9 favorites]
Let's not forget: 12 years before Pedro passed away, the White House was literally cracking jokes about the epidemic.
.
posted by schmod at 9:51 AM on November 11, 2014 [9 favorites]
schmod: Let's not forget: 12 years before Pedro passed away, the White House was literally cracking jokes about the epidemic.
What would you expect? A disease that mostly targets homosexuals, junkies, & the promiscuous was seen as a gift, not a problem.
Once you had a straight white kid who contracted HIV accidentally as the posterboy for the disease, it finally was taken seriously.
posted by dr_dank at 9:59 AM on November 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
What would you expect? A disease that mostly targets homosexuals, junkies, & the promiscuous was seen as a gift, not a problem.
Once you had a straight white kid who contracted HIV accidentally as the posterboy for the disease, it finally was taken seriously.
posted by dr_dank at 9:59 AM on November 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
A disease that mostly targets homosexuals, junkies, & the promiscuous was seen as a gift, not a problem.
A gift to who? Bigots?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:15 AM on November 11, 2014
A gift to who? Bigots?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:15 AM on November 11, 2014
If you want to honor Pedro's work, may I suggest contributing to the scholarship in his name?
posted by gingerbeer at 10:24 AM on November 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by gingerbeer at 10:24 AM on November 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
> straight white kid who contracted HIV accidentally
Uh, pretty much everyone contracted HIV accidentally. And Ryan White died 4 years before Pedro, if that's who you're referring to.
posted by gingerbeer at 10:26 AM on November 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Uh, pretty much everyone contracted HIV accidentally. And Ryan White died 4 years before Pedro, if that's who you're referring to.
posted by gingerbeer at 10:26 AM on November 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
A gift to who? Bigots?
Yes, exactly. Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell and their ilk preached that it was a plague sent from god to destroy the sinners of our modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. They were smug fucking assholes about it.
posted by I am the Walrus at 10:34 AM on November 11, 2014 [5 favorites]
Yes, exactly. Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell and their ilk preached that it was a plague sent from god to destroy the sinners of our modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. They were smug fucking assholes about it.
posted by I am the Walrus at 10:34 AM on November 11, 2014 [5 favorites]
Back in the 1980s, as part of some class presentation, I saw a spokesperson for Concerned Women for America say to my face that AIDS was "God's punishment for homosexuals." That was definitely a thing back then. Nowadays, even most on the Christian Right would not be so blatant.
posted by jonp72 at 10:41 AM on November 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by jonp72 at 10:41 AM on November 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
There sure are plenty of those assholes all over reality TV, from Duck Dynasty on down the line.
Homophobia has not been defeated, not by a long stretch, but progress has been made, small steps and all - today, you are obliged to hide your homophobia behind the bible, religion and the like, as in the case of the bigot from Duck Dynasty (and even so, he did face official censure from the network, however laughably brief and ineffective). Out in the open homophobia like Puck's is no longer viable on a national network. It's really a parallel to the racial struggle, when open racism replete with slurs was once completely acceptable, but today needs to be hidden and referenced with dog whistles. It may seem like splitting hairs, what with appalling homophobia still widely extant, but I'd not be happy to give the progress that has been made (however tiny) at such cost by people like Pedro Zamora. This is by no means to downplay the evil consequences of this hatred, however hidden it may be.
And somehow I missed the news of Sasser passing, so a belated RIP for him as well. It's always infuriating when the good ones die and the evil (e.g. Puck) survive and laugh about it.
posted by VikingSword at 10:44 AM on November 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Homophobia has not been defeated, not by a long stretch, but progress has been made, small steps and all - today, you are obliged to hide your homophobia behind the bible, religion and the like, as in the case of the bigot from Duck Dynasty (and even so, he did face official censure from the network, however laughably brief and ineffective). Out in the open homophobia like Puck's is no longer viable on a national network. It's really a parallel to the racial struggle, when open racism replete with slurs was once completely acceptable, but today needs to be hidden and referenced with dog whistles. It may seem like splitting hairs, what with appalling homophobia still widely extant, but I'd not be happy to give the progress that has been made (however tiny) at such cost by people like Pedro Zamora. This is by no means to downplay the evil consequences of this hatred, however hidden it may be.
And somehow I missed the news of Sasser passing, so a belated RIP for him as well. It's always infuriating when the good ones die and the evil (e.g. Puck) survive and laugh about it.
posted by VikingSword at 10:44 AM on November 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
i remain full of gratitude for pedro and sean. it meant so much to me as a teen in the middle of arkansas and is one of those things that shaped me.
Ditto. I was a young girl living in Danish redneck country. It made a huge difference.
. for Pedro whose far too short life had an impact in ways he could not have imagined.
posted by kariebookish at 11:27 AM on November 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Ditto. I was a young girl living in Danish redneck country. It made a huge difference.
. for Pedro whose far too short life had an impact in ways he could not have imagined.
posted by kariebookish at 11:27 AM on November 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
.
That was definitely one of the best seasons of The Real World, and Pedro was definitely a big part of why. I can't believe it's been 20 years already.
And yes, it got a bit dusty in here after I read the interview with Judd.
posted by SisterHavana at 3:02 PM on November 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
That was definitely one of the best seasons of The Real World, and Pedro was definitely a big part of why. I can't believe it's been 20 years already.
And yes, it got a bit dusty in here after I read the interview with Judd.
posted by SisterHavana at 3:02 PM on November 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's weird, I have absolutely no memory of Pedro changing my mind about homosexuals or AIDS, because I don't think I knew anything about homosexuality or AIDS at age 15. I knew who Ryan White was and that he had contracted a disease that was being reported as epidemic (which it obviously was and is, but I'm just recounting what I knew at the time), and I remember the big push to convince people that AIDS could be contracted by straight people, but I think because my first media exposure to the disease was Ryan White that I never thought of it as being a gay disease so much as a disease that happened to affect more gay people than straight people. Hell, I don't think I understood gayness or straightness anyway. I didn't really get being sexually attracted to the same gender, but I didn't have any handle on my attraction to the opposite gender so I didn't have a lot of bandwidth left to consider it. It'd be nice to say that I was a well-educated and liberal person at that time, but I was much more likely an ignorant kid who didn't know anything about anything. Because I don't remember Pedro having any effect on my views, I kind of think now that he must have shaped my view of these things before I knew I had one, which is a pretty good legacy and one I am certainly grateful for.
Actually, I was definitely an ignorant, because I remember liking Puck for being punk rock and not noticing his homophobia at all, which would very much stand out to me now.
posted by Errant at 1:00 PM on November 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Actually, I was definitely an ignorant, because I remember liking Puck for being punk rock and not noticing his homophobia at all, which would very much stand out to me now.
posted by Errant at 1:00 PM on November 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
I was older -- mid 20s -- so my ideas about gay people, homophobia, and assholes were already pretty set by the time I watched that season of TRW. I thought it was at once brave and somewhat exploitative of MTV to cast Zamora, but I reckon he went into it with open eyes.
It's almost hard to explain at this point, now that Puck-like personalities are basically the rule on so-called "reality" TV, but back then the casts for TRW were made up mostly of "regular people who thought doing a TV show would be a lark" vs. "attention-seeking people hoping to use it as a springboard into TV or films." Can you imagine a medical student like Pam Ling doing a show like this now? Normal humans could imagine being friends with these people. Even the Republican, Rachel, was a non-asshole (and her friendship with Pedro, plus the changes in her assumptions about gay people and AIDS as a result, seemed like genuine moments and not contrived and packaged television).
Somewhere between this season and the next 2 or 3, the whole formula changed. Miami and Boston and subsequent seemed much more peopled with attention-seekers willing to misbehave for screentime, though by then I wasn't watching at all.
posted by uberchet at 1:31 PM on November 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
It's almost hard to explain at this point, now that Puck-like personalities are basically the rule on so-called "reality" TV, but back then the casts for TRW were made up mostly of "regular people who thought doing a TV show would be a lark" vs. "attention-seeking people hoping to use it as a springboard into TV or films." Can you imagine a medical student like Pam Ling doing a show like this now? Normal humans could imagine being friends with these people. Even the Republican, Rachel, was a non-asshole (and her friendship with Pedro, plus the changes in her assumptions about gay people and AIDS as a result, seemed like genuine moments and not contrived and packaged television).
Somewhere between this season and the next 2 or 3, the whole formula changed. Miami and Boston and subsequent seemed much more peopled with attention-seekers willing to misbehave for screentime, though by then I wasn't watching at all.
posted by uberchet at 1:31 PM on November 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
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