Rev: Steve Pieters Obituary

Rev. Dr. A. Stephen Pieters, the AIDS activist and longtime HIV survivor known informally and widely as Steve Pieters following his groundbreaking 1985 interview by televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, died July 8 in Los Angeles after a two-week hospitalization with an infection. He was 70.

His death was announced by spokesperson Harlan Boll.

The historic Bakker-Pieters interview, one of the earliest sympathetic presentations of a gay man with AIDS made all the more remarkable by Bakker’s then-elevated status in the evangelical community, was depicted in the 2021 feature film The Eyes of Tammy Faye starring Jessica Chastain as Bakker and featuring Randy Havens of Stranger Things as Pieters.

In a statement, Chastain, who won an Oscar for her performance, said, “Steve Pieters was an inspiration and advocate for those living with HIV/AIDS for over 35 years. He was a constant reminder that God is LOVE. Rest in Peace sweet angel Steve. You made a difference in the lives of so many and you will be missed.”

The 1985 interview also was depicted in Elton John’s 2022 West End musical Tammy Faye.

Pieters was a long-term survivor of AIDS, having been originally diagnosed in 1982 with what was then called GRID, or Gay Related Immunodeficiency. In April 1984, he was diagnosed with AIDS/Kaposi’s Sarcoma and stage four lymphoma, and was told by one health professional that he would not live to see 1985.

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