Rev. Steve Pieters, an HIV survivor and gay activist who helped shift views around HIV/AIDS the ’80s, has died at 70. Pieters was known for his landmark terview wh televangelist Tammy Faye Baker on her broadst which went to lns of nservative Christians. Sunday TODAY’s Willie Geist remembers a life well lived.
Contents:
- HIV AND ALL GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
- REV. STEPHEN PIETERS, HIV SURVIVOR AND GAY ACTIVIST, DI AT 70
- BETWEEN TWO PANMICS: OLR, GAY MEN'S EXPERIENC ACROSS HIV/AIDS AND COVID-19
- STIGMA AND S ROLE HIV PREVENTN AND RE OF GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
HIV AND ALL GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
Gay and bisexual men are more severely affected by HIV than any other group the Uned Stat (US). * gay and hiv aids *
Social and stctural issu—such as HIV stigma, homophobia, discrimatn, poverty, and limed accs to high-qualy health re—fluence health out and ntue to drive equi. This web ntent the term gay and bisexual men to reprent gay, bisexual, and other men who reported male-to-male sexual ntact.
Current treatment only works on cells that are actively producg new viral pi, NBC News the IAS nference, scientists will hear about post-treatment ntrol of HIV fant boys, the impact of circumcisn on HIV risk gay men and the relatnship between HIV and mpox, NBC News rmatnThe U. But Tammy Faye Bakker had a more acceptg attu, and “she wanted to be the first televangelist to terview a gay man wh AIDS, ” Pieters told People terview was nducted via satelle; the Bakkers were willg to have Pieters their North Carola stud, but they feared their staff would be unfortable around a person wh AIDS.
REV. STEPHEN PIETERS, HIV SURVIVOR AND GAY ACTIVIST, DI AT 70
* gay and hiv aids *
In 1993, he was a gut at Print Bill Clton’s prayer breakfast, and Clton mentned him his World AIDS Day addrs that Augt, he received the Humanarian Voice Award om the Gay Men’s Chos of Los Angel. “So many people have said my terview wh her helped them e out or even saved them om suici, by helpg them realize they uld be gay and Christian or that God was not punishg them wh AIDS for beg gay. Pieters also served for years on the board of the Gay Men’s Chos of Los Angel, for whom he sang sce 1994 ncert halls that clud Carnegie Hall New York, Tchaikovsky Hall Mosw and the Walt Disney Concert Hall Los Angel.
Donatns his memory n be ma to AIDS Project Los Angel, Cy of Hope, The Gay Men’s Chos of Los Angel and/or Project Angel Food. The film tails the activi of HIV/AIDS relief anizatns durg the early days of the epimic, wh a foc on APLA Health (formerly the Wt Hollywood-based AIDS Project Los Angel) and s work supportg the gay muny while leveragg the gild town’s starpower, and navigatg s secrecy. Commment to Life featur footage of speech and performanc om celebri who threw their weight behd the gay muny durg the epimic, like Tom Hanks, Whney Hoton, Rob Williams and, of urse, Elizabeth Taylor.
Together, they vividly reunt the terror and sorrow of the epimic, pictg a time of both great darkns and fierce, fiant joy and also relate a fear that the most paful legaci of the epimic—om AIDS patients languishg isolatn due to misrmatn and stigma, to public portrayals of the epimic as a “whe gay man’s disease” spe s outsized impact on muni of lor, to systemic health re and ernmental neglect—are beg fotten.
BETWEEN TWO PANMICS: OLR, GAY MEN'S EXPERIENC ACROSS HIV/AIDS AND COVID-19
The high percentage of gay and bisexual men who are livg wh HIV means that, as a group, they have a greater risk of beg exposed to HIV; browse lks here. * gay and hiv aids *
“We thought we were makg progrs, we seem to be movg backwards […] wh all the trans bans and Don’t Say Gay and all this sany. Although ernments and health officials largely failed gay men durg the HIV/AIDS panmic, gay men reprent an important source of panmic rmatn and their experienc have much to offer health profsnals and policymakers. The current study drew on nstctivist ground theory methods to exame how livg through the HIV/AIDS panmic has fluenced olr gay men's perspectiv of COVID-19.
To add to the growg body of lerature that highlights that panmics are socially and culturally embedd, and the nsequent social implitns, we nducted a study rmed by the rearch qutn: how did the HIV/AIDS panmic shape olr gay men's perspectiv of COVID-19?
Durg pre-HAART, gay inty was nstcted as viant (Al Hourani, 2021; Halkis, 2021), gay men were held rponsible for the novel vis, posned as morally ept, and oftentim scribed as servg of fectn (Epste, 1996; Forste, 2013; Lupton, 1994). Consequently, the labellg of HIV/AIDS as a ‘gay plague’ was a domant narrative North Ameri, fostered by the prevailg polil learship of the time - most notably unr the Reagan Admistratn the Uned Stat - and leveraged to substantiate the arth of any public health rponse (Epste, 1996; Forste, 2013; Lupton, 1994; Oppenheimer, 1988; Shultze, 2015). Braksmajer and London (2021) also llected perspectiv om gay men pertag to the siari and differenc between HIV/AIDS and COVID-19.
STIGMA AND S ROLE HIV PREVENTN AND RE OF GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
Rearch has monstrated that gay and bisexual men livg wh HIV/AIDS are likely to experience both HIV stigma and gay-related stigma, which may e signifint psychologil strs. * gay and hiv aids *
Therefore, the goal of the prent study was to provi sights to the experienc of the COVID-19 panmic by gay men over 50 who experienced the begng of the HIV/AIDS panmic. While bmedil rearch often eclips the challeng of livg wh illns (Halp, 2018; Charmaz, 1990) we tail the lived experience of olr gay men relatn to the social experienc of two panmics, monstratg the social and dividual difficulti that tersect wh the physlogil risks of the pathogen (see also Epste, 1996). Our fdgs tail gay men's experienc wh uncertaty, equali, and (mis)rmatn across both panmics, as well as the hardship of experiencg two global panmics durg their lifpan.