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The Rev. Dr. A. Stephen Pieters is a Long-Term Survivor of AIDS. Diagnosed with AIDS-related complex (ARC) in 1982, and AIDS/Kaposi's Sarcoma and stage four Lymphoma in 1984. His remarkable story of recovery serves as an inspiring example of healing and hope. He has been interviewed by the Los Angeles Sunday Times, Time magazine, Omni magazine, Life magazine, and numerous television talk and news shows including CNN, Headline News, Tammy's House Party with Tammy Faye Bakker on Friday, November 15, 1985; CBS This Morning, the Tom Snyder Show, America Talks Back, and Real Life with Jane Pauley. Rev. Pieters is featured in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" documentary (2000), [and is portrayed by actor, Randy Havens in the Oscar winning feature, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021 Searchlight), starring Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones and Vincent D'Onofrio.]
In September 1985, he was a featured speaker at the first entertainment industry dinner AIDS benefit, given by Elizabeth Taylor and honoring former First Lady Betty Ford. In November 1987 he presented the Buddy of the Year Award to Whoopi Goldberg at APLA's third annual entertainment industry benefit. In the summer of 1990, he appeared as himself in the hit play, AIDS US/II. His story also appears in the books, Surviving AIDS by Michael Callen, Voices That Care by Neal Hitchens, and Don't Be Afraid Anymore by Rev. Troy D. Perry.
Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Rev. Pieters was raised in Andover where his father chaired the Mathematics Department at Phillips Academy. Steve attended Phillips Andover in preparation for his theater studies at Northwestern University, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Speech in 1974.
In 1976, he joined Good Shepherd Parish Metropolitan Community Church in Chicago, where he decided to pursue a calling to the professional ministry. He received his Master of Divinity Degree from McCormick Theological Seminary in 1979, at which time he accepted a call as Pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Hartford, Connecticut.
In Hartford, he served on the Board of Directors of the Hill Center, Inc., and Center City Churches, and on the Executive Committee of the Sexual Minorities Task Force of the Capitol Region Conference of Churches. The Gay Switchboard for the region was kept in his home, and he was interviewed in the print media, as well as on many TV and radio shows as one of the few local gay activists.
In April 1982, Steve began experiencing the first symptoms of what we now know as HIV infection, but then was called GRID: Gay Related Immunodeficiency. Steve resigned his position in Hartford, and moved to Los Angeles, where he experienced a series of illnesses, including hepatitis, cytomegalovirus, mononucleosis, and pneumonia. That led to his diagnosed with ARC: AIDS-related complex. In April 1984, he was diagnosed with AIDS/Kaposi's Sarcoma and stage IV lymphoma, and he was told by one health professional that he would not live to see 1985.
There were no treatments available, and his doctor, Alexandra M. Levine, M.D., told him, "You in the church have more to offer at this point than we do in medicine." She also challenged him to "do everything you can to create the conditions for medication to work when we find something," adding, "If 0.001% end up surviving AIDS, than why not believe that you will be among that 0.001%, and act accordingly?"
Not only did he live to see 1985, but during that year he became "patient number 1" on the first anti-viral drug trial to treat HIV. He took Suramin for a total of 39 weeks. Within six weeks of treatment with Suramin, both cancers went into complete remission. Due to toxic side effects, the drug was discontinued for use against AIDS. However, Rev. Pieters continues to enjoy a complete remission of his cancers, according to his physician, Alexandra M. Levine, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of City Of Hope.
Since his diagnosis, Rev. Pieters has served on the Boards of Directors of AIDS Project Los Angeles, the AIDS Interfaith Council of Southern California, the AIDS National Interfaith Network (USA), and the first Los Angeles City/County AIDS Task Force, and was Field Director for the AIDS Ministry of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches from 1987 to 1997. He has written a series of articles for Journey magazine about his experiences with AIDS, which have been collected with other writings of Rev. Pieters' in the book, I'm Still Dancing.
Rev. Pieters was one of twelve guests at the first AIDS Prayer Breakfast at the White House with U.S. President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and National AIDS Policy Coordinator Kristine Gebbie on November 30, 1993. The President talked about Rev. Pieters in his World AIDS Day speech on December 1, 1993.
Rev. Pieters has received awards for his ministry in the AIDS crisis from the Board of Elders of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches; Evangelicals Together, Inc.; the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles; The Lazarus Project of the West Hollywood Presbyterian Church; and the West Hollywood City Council. In 1989 he received an Honorary Doctor of Ministry Degree from Samaritan College, the seminary of the Metropolitan Community Churches. In 1990, he received the prestigious Sheldon Andelson Award from the Stonewall Democratic Club, and the Sandra L. Robinson Award from Community Unity in Dayton, Ohio.
Rev. Pieters received an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University in 2003, and subsequently worked as a psychotherapist for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center; Alternatives, Inc.; Teen Line; and the Westminster Counseling Center.
Reverend Pieters has been a singing member of the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles since 1994. From 1994-99, he served on their Board of Directors, and as Chair of the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles Board from 1997-99. With the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, he has performed in some of the great concert halls of the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York (in 1994 and 2019), Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
Reverend Pieters has served as Staff Clergy at Founders Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles. He has traveled the world, teaching, preaching, and sharing his belief in God's healing and sustaining power while living with HIV/AIDS. Everywhere he spoke, he carried a fairy wand to teach about the importance of believing in fairies when so many good fairies were dying, of believing in each other and in ourselves, enough to do the work of healing, whether that be healing into life, or healing into death.
In October, 2019, examples of his work in AIDS Ministry and of his life as a person with HIV/AIDS were placed in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Included in that collection is his fairy wand.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Pieters
Epilogue: In March of 2020, COVID-19 brought a fresh hell of threats, especially to those with compromised immune systems. Undaunted, and no stranger to sheltering-in-place, Rev. Pieters set about writing his memoir, which he completed by his 69th birthday, signing then, with literary agent, George Greenfield, President, CreativeWell, Inc. Several weeks later, as her honored guest, Rev. Pieters met Jessica Chastain on the hot pink carpet at the Sept 14, 2021, NYC Premiere of The Eyes of Tammy Faye., where Pieters also met and befriended Tammy Faye's son, author, speaker and Revolution Church Pastor, Jay Bakker. Jay was not yet ten in Nov. 1985. Months later, Steve found himself at the Oscar Nominees luncheon on the arm of Ms. Chastain, "the only nominee who brought a character from her film as her date!", Pieters laughed. "That interview saved lives", and inspired me to make the film, Oscar winner Chastain extolled, "It makes Tammy Faye such a badass!"
Promoting the film, Rev. Pieters embarked on a whirlwind of media interviews and (remote) international speaking engagements. In June 2022, Rev. Pieters was an Honoree with Fran Drescher, Michael Feinstein and Geri Jewel at the iconic Hollywood Museum's REAL to REEL Exhibit opening gala. And, in August 2022, GMCLA bestowed its Humanitarian Voice Award on Steve, the first GMCLA member to be so honored.
A month after his 70th birthday, an exam to address new difficulty swallowing revealed a symptom-free, late-stage stomach cancer that had spread to his esophagus. "This is not my first stage IV cancer!", quipped Steve. Navigating a gauntlet of radiation and chemo, Pieters soldiered on attending the Santa Barbara International Film Festival World Premiere of APLA's Commitment to Life documentary featuring Pieters and fellow activist, Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson in Little House on the Prairie). The London cast of Elton John's Broadway bound, Tammy Faye: A New American Musical, cheered Pieters on, and a personal call from Elton in December, thanking Steve for "your brilliant interview with Tammy Faye...I must have watched it a thousand times", proved as good an Rx as any. A flood of such affirmations and support from a platoon of caregivers from all walks of life, armed Steve with the drive to sustain himself through 54-hour non-stop sessions of chemo. Remote interviews and speaking engagements continued, and through it all, when Rev. Pieters was not waging battle with his spreading cancer, he was writing and rewriting his memoir. In mid-April 2023, Pieters signed with Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers Inc., and nine weeks later, he delivered the 9th and final draft of his memoir.
Only weeks before, Northwestern University Libraries announced it would receive and archive Steve Pieters' personal papers. On June 20, 2023, amidst a flurry of medical visits, Steve's editor accepted and agreed to publish Love is Greater Than AIDS: A Memoir of Survival, Healing and Hope by Reverend Steve Pieters. The next morning, Steve collapsed and was rushed to hospital. Though totally incapacitated, Steve's outreach continued via a filmed interview he'd done one week earlier for Project Angel Food, which was introduced live, in-studio by Lead with Love telethon hosts, Steven Weber and Lily Tomlin. With hands clasped just below her chin, Lily looked straight into camera saying, "Steve, know that we're pulling for you, and sending you all our love". Sedated, but watching from his hospital bed, Steve's vitals measurably improved as he rallied one last time. Having survived terminal diagnoses for 39-years, surrounded by loved ones, Steve was healed into eternal love the evening of July 8, 2023. His memoir came out April 2, 2024
* Timothy D. Smith, Executor Estate of Albert Stephen Pieters
Love is Greater Than AIDS: A Memoir of Survival, Healing and Hope by Reverend Steve Pieters, was released in hardcover on April 2, 2024 (Rowman & Littlefield, Publishing Group, Inc. © 2004).
The sold-out London hit, TAMMY FAYE: A New American Musical - Music by Elton John, Lyrics by Jake Shears, Book by James Graham and Directed by Rupert Goold; starring two-time Olivier Award Winner, Katie Brayben and Tony and Olivier Award Nominee, Andrew Rannells featured a segment of the 1985, barrier-breaking, Tammy Faye/Steve Pieters interview. Brayben will again star in TAMMY FAYE A New Broadway Musical at the Palace Theatre, West 47th Street, NYC, NY, with previews starting October 19, 2024.
A new documentary, God Isn't Ready for Me Yet: The Steve Pieters Story is in production (A Magician's Niece Production) - Jay Bakker (producer, son of Tammy Faye), Peter Rollins (executive producer), Hellen Rollins and Alfie Bown (producers), Helen Rollins (director), Patrick Jones (DP), Caleb Swyers (editor), Emily Schkolnick (archives producer) and many others.
