This story originally appeared in the print issue of Footnotes, Spring 2023. Natalia Gonzalez Blanco Serrano is a Medill School of Journalism senior. Other memorabilia of his can be found in the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. Pieters’s archives will be fully processed this summer. “His archive is a remarkable and searing collection of material that will speak clearly to future generations.” “His records provide evidence of how our institutions and our society confronted AIDS,” Leonard said. University archivist Kevin Leonard was grateful to receive the papers of an alumnus he calls “a living model of strength and compassion.” Famously, he sat for a live satellite interview with televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in 1985 that not only highlighted Pieters’s humanity as a person living with AIDS but also helped turn Bakker into a champion of gay rights. He continued to galvanize people through his ministry and began reaching out beyond religious circles. He became director of the Los Angeles MCC’s AIDS ministry and refused to let his medical condition limit his will to live. Soon thereafter, he got sick and was told he had “gay-related immune deficiency.” In 1984 he was formally diagnosed with AIDS, Kaposi sarcoma, and stage 4 lymphoma.Īn undated image of Pieters meeting with then vice president Al Gore.ĭespite his diagnoses, Pieters pushed on. He spent three years there, then moved to Los Angeles in 1982. Pieters wasted no time: he enrolled in McCormick Theological Seminary, received his master of divinity degree, and moved from Chicago to Hartford, Connecticut, to become pastor at its local MCC. “It was as blindingly clear an idea as I’d ever had.” But did you know you can also download a copy of this data for yourself Yep, and it’s stupid easy. “A year after I’d started going to MCC, I was sitting in a service and was suddenly struck with the absolute certainty that I was called into the ministry,” he said. Cameron Summerson Summerson Updated Aug 14, 2017, 12:08 pm EDT 4 min read Everyone who uses Google services knows that Google has copies of your datayour search history, Gmail, YouTube history, and so much more. It wasn’t until he started attending Chicago’s Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), which was home to a vibrant, openly LGBTQ congregation, that he discovered his first queer community-people who fully embraced who he was and who he would become. In his early 20s, he said, he struggled to find his path he was also coming to terms with his gay identity. The papers of pastor Steve Pieters include personal correspondence and photos.Īs a theatre major at Northwestern, Pieters performed in dozens of shows and graduated with a degree from the School of Communication.
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