PEDROIn 1994, Bunim/Murray Productions made the groundbreaking decision to cast openly gay, HIV-positive Cuban-American Pedro Zamora as part of MTV's The Real World: San Francisco. Zamora's time in the Real World house on Lombard Street brought a face to the AIDS crisis; and U.S. President Bill Clinton credited Zamora with personalizing and humanizing those with the disease. PEDRO celebrates the extraordinary life of Pedro Zamora, a young man who when he found out he was HIV positive at 17, made the courageous decision to dedicate the rest of his life to speaking out about his condition in an attempt to raise awareness about the disease in his community, even testifying before the United States Congress to argue for more explicit HIV/AIDS educational programs aimed at youth of color before auditioning for The Real World in 1993.

His appearance on The Real World brought his story and his message to MTV's youthful audience and beyond, and when Zamora's health began to deteriorate in late 1994 (after he left the show), it became front page news nationwide, and his death at age 22 provoked a worldwide outpouring of grief.

In support of PEDRO and in an effort to provide young Americans with a tangible way to carry on Pedro’s fight to stop the spread of STD’s and HIV, MTV will be launching a national multimedia campaign to get all sexually active young people tested for STDs. In partnership with Kaiser Family Foundation, Planned Parenthood of America, and with technical support from the Center for Disease Control and the NYC Department of Health, MTV will be to dispels myths around testing, get people tested, and promote healthy sexual lifestyles.

To find out how you can benefit from and take advantage of this ground-breaking effort check out the other side

How Can You Help

Galvanize This Movement?

Here is how you can make the most of the PEDRO movie and take advantage of the national attention this moving and the testing campaign will receive:

1. Engage Current Supporters and Attract New OnesPEDRO is a powerful story of a young man’s activism on issues important to him, and ultimately issues that still face millions of young Americans. Encourage your members to tune into PEDRO on April 1 at 8pm on MTV. This is a great way to stoke new conversations and engagement on any of the issues the movie brings out from safe sex, to human rights, gay marriage, HIV AIDS awareness, Latino issues and

more.ACTION: Email your members or include in your newsletter in the week prior to tune in to MTV on April 1 at 8pm to watch Pedro. Members can organize viewing parties at home and use the Pedro discussion

guide (available on March 28 at pedro.mtv.com) to make the most of the experience.

2. Have Supporters Text and They Could Win a Trip to the 2009 MTV Movie AwardsTo carry on Pedro’s fight, we want to encourage all sexually active people to get tested. To make this as easy and fun as possible, we set up an SMS code so all anyone has to do is text their zip code to 49809 and they will get a text back with the location of the nearest testing center. In addition, everyone who texts that SMS code will automatically be registered to win a trip for 2 people to the 2009 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles! Not a bad deal for doing something we should all be doing anyway right?

ACTION: Email or text your members to text their zip code to 49809 to find their nearest STD testing center and encourage them to get tested. Also, remind them that by doing so they are not only making

a difference but also have the ability to win a trip to the 2009 MTV Movie Awards!

3. Get Your Supporters TestedThe most important action we all can take is to encourage as many as possible to go to their doctor, a Planned Parenthood clinic, or their nearest local testing center and get tested. We need to work together to get as many people tested as possible. When 50% of young Americans will get an STD before they are 25 and 1 in 4 HIV+ people not knowing they are positive…the time for action is now!ACTION: Remind your members of the alarming rates of STDs among young Americans and that aside

from safe sex one of the best actions we can take to prevent the spread of STDs is to get tested and make sure your partner is tested as well. Don’t wait, get tested today!

4. Encourage Safer SexOne of Pedro’s core messages was to always practice safer sex with no exceptions. With that in mind, on April 1 MTV is relaunching www.itsyoursexlife.com, an interactive and all inclusive destination for sexual health information for young people. From MTV News stories on the most important issues, to related

shows and episode guides, helpful information from our sexual health partners and experts (like the CDC, Kaiser Family Foundation, and others) and community forums, www.itsyoursexlife.com is the right place

for people to come to feel safe and confident they are getting the right information on sexual health. ACTION: Encourage members to head to www.itsyoursexlife.com for up to date resources on sexual

health topics and to be part of the discussion on and find answers to the most important issues they are facing regarding sex.