When he was six, his parents divorced, after which his father, an army sergeant, was mostly absent from his life,[3][4] sending a Casio watch to him every year on his birthday.

[4] After finishing school, Sasser found jobs cooking in local Chicago restaurants, but was too fixated on the idea of dying from AIDS.

Sasser joined a youth HIV-positive movement that advocated attention for adolescents with the disease, and began speaking to groups about his own experience with HIV.

He subsequently assisted a support group called Bay Area Positives, for young people of color.

[4] Sasser attended the 1993 Lesbian and Gay March on Washington, where he introduced himself to a fellow AIDS educator named Pedro Zamora.

Winick adds that whereas Sasser was a private person who harbored the ability to pack up and leave town on short notice, Zamora's openness led them to discuss more permanent living arrangements as a couple.

[1] After production on The Real World ceased in June 1994, Zamora visited his family in Miami before returning to San Francisco to live with Sasser.

In August 1994, Zamora was diagnosed in New York City with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML),[4][7] and was given three to four months to live.

In 1995, he spoke at the inaugural White House AIDS conference, and was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

[4] In 2008 Bunim-Murray Productions produced a film, Pedro, directed by Nick Oceano, dramatizing Zamora's life.

[16] Sasser said of his work, "I want to serve desserts and pastries that people recognize and love to eat, but sometimes with an unexpected twist of surprise.

[1] While living in the District, Sasser served as a board member of the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families.

Real World: Miami cast member Dan Renzi, himself openly gay, stated, "Long before Ellen or Will & Grace showcased gay people on TV living mainstream lives, and before the magic of protease inhibitor 'cocktails' turned HIV into a manageable disease, Sasser gave a brave face to both issues and brought those taboo topics to educate millions of young Americans.

"[20][21] The Sean Sasser Memorial Endowment Fund at AIDS United was established in September 2013 to mobilize support for programs that improve the health outcomes for gay men of color.