Digital Transgender Archive

Guide to the Candida Scott Piel Papers

The Candida Scott Piel Papers document a socially active gay and lesbian culture, centered in New York City, around the turn of the twenty-first century. The papers include subject files, printed materials, writings, ephemera, and audiovisual materials. There is particularly substantive material on AIDS and AIDS treatments, "the circuit" culture, the Jewel Box Revue, and events organized by Piel, mainly as fundraisers for organizations such as the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

Candida Scott Piel was born on May 17, 1952, in New York, New York. She graduated from Yale University in 1974 with a B.A. in Religious Studies. She obtained a Masters Degree in communications from the New York Institute of Technology. After graduating from college, Piel worked briefly in the adult film industry and in gay theater. In 1982, she became involved in Gay Pride Day and chaired the rally in 1984. Piel then became executive director of Friends and Advocates for Individual Rights (FAIRPAC), a political action group. During the 1990s, Piel worked for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) for which she was liaison to the gay community and organized fundraisers and events for AIDS awareness and safe partying. She continues to be active in gay organizations.