INTERVIEW
AIDS Activist Steve Pieters Revisits His Pivotal Interview with Tammy Faye Bakker
By Emily Johnson | January 4, 2022
The Rev. A. Stephen Pieters is a wellspring of joy and optimism. He is also one of the longest-term survivors of HIV/AIDS in the United States. For more than 35 years, Pieters has worked to raise awareness and empathy on behalf of those living with AIDS.
Pieters was ordained in the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), a denomination founded in 1968 to serve the spiritual needs of LGBTQ+ Christians. As a pastor, he stood in sharp contrast to the often-vitriolic rhetoric about AIDS from conservative Christian spokespeople. While others quoted the Bible to condemn people with AIDS, Pieters drew on his faith and his theological training to make sense of his diagnosis and to preach about hope and community.
In 1985, he received a surprising phone call: Would he be willing to sit down for an interview with Tammy Faye Bakker, one of the most famous televangelists in the country? Bakker was typically an empathetic interviewer, but she was also friendly with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two of the loudest voices denouncing people with AIDS at the time.
Continue reading... https://religionandpolitics.org/2022/01/04/aids-activist-steve-pieters-revisits-his-pivotal-interview-with-tammy-faye-bakker/
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