Real World Actor Sean Sasser to Speak at Yale

On Monday, Nov. 17, Sean Sasser, a 28-year-old African American, HIV-positive gay man and veteran of MTV’s “The Real World,” will speak on the Yale campus in a lecture/discussion titled “Sexual Identity and AIDS in ‘The Real World.’” Mr. Sasser has been living with HIV for his entire adult life, and has been an AIDS activist and educator since 1991. With his late partner, Pedro Zamora, he was also the focus of several episodes of “The Real World III.”

Mr. Sasser currently manages the Atlanta Media Resource Center of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a watchdog organization that combats discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. He is a board member of the AIDS Policy Center for Children, Youth and Families in Washington, D.C. He also serves on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, appointed by President Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

The lecture, sponsored by Sociology 229A and the Yale Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies, will begin at 7 p.m. in Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. It is free and open to the public.