MTV Film Pedro Raises Awareness about STDs
Pedro's Life Educates and Inspires Others to be Tested for STDs
Apr 16, 2009
In 1994, MTV's first season of the Real World case a groundbreaking real-life character named Pedro Zamora. Pedro's story was very real but not a story that had been seen on television ever before. At the age of 17, he tested positive for HIV and made the decision to share a very personal journey to raise awareness about the realities of the disease. Pedro's life, cut far too short by the disease he crusaded to educate others about, has been re-created in a new film by MTV called Pedro.
Pedro Tells Pedro Zamora's Story
The movie Pedro, tells the story of Cuban-American Pedro Zamora's life. From his immigration to the United States from Cuba to the tragic death of his mother from cancer, director Nick Oceano creates a quiet hero of Pedro. When he is diagnosed at the age of 17 with HIV after offering to donate blood at a school drive, he and his sister discuss what this means from him at the dinner table. Rather than be crushed by his diagnosis, Pedro becomes an educator and tries to teach other the honest truth about HIV/AIDS. He lived his life publicly before MTV, by testifying before Congress and giving the true face of a young gay man of color living with HIV.
The film shows Pedro as a human being and not just a mission statement. It shows his struggles in the Real World house, especially with roommate Puck who often made controversial statements about Pedro's ethnicity and sexual orientation. It showed his friendship with other housemates and his relationship with Sean, who he married on the final episode of the Real World. Unfortunately, Pedro passed away the day after that episode was aired.
MTV Movie Raises Awareness About HIV/AIDS
The film does not hide the debilitating physical ramifications of Pedro's disease but they do not focus on them completely. The reality of his disease is balanced out by the inspirational narrative of his life and his efforts to educate others about HIV/AIDS.
The film not only teaches about the life of Pedro, but is also part of a national campaign to raise awareness about sexually transmitted diseases. April is STD Awareness Month and so MTV is joined by Planned Parenthood Federation of American, the Kaiser Family Foundation and numerous other partners to kick off the GYT campaign at the premiere of the movie Pedro.
GYT stands for Get Yourself Tested. It was kicked off at the premiere of the Pedro movie on April 1st, 2009 and focuses on encouraging young people to make responsible decisions about their sexual health. By the age of 25, one in two young people will get a sexually transmitted disease. While not all of them will be like Pedro, who died at the age of 22, it is a scary number that Planned Parenthood Federation of America, MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation are trying to combat by creating a social movement around getting tested.
Pedro's Story Has Special Significance Among Latino Population
Pedro Zamora's life and the GYT campaign are meant to inspire everyone, but Pedro's story has a special significance for the Latino population. The Latino community is disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. While Latinos make up 15 percent of the US population, they account for 16 percent of all AIDS cases since the beginning of the epidemic and 19 percent of all people in the US living with AIDS. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV/AIDS is the number four killer of Latinos from the ages of 35 to 44 in the US. Nearly half of Latinos report that HIV/AIDS is more urgent a problem in their communities today than it was a few years ago.
Hopefully, MTV's film Pedro will carry on Pedro Zamora's mission to inspire and educate about the realities of sexually transmitted diseases.
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