The pierced and tattooed Bakker grew up in Charlotte at the heels of his parents’ Praise The Lord ministry and television network. The PTL empire imploded in scandal in the 1980s. Afterward, Tammy Faye, who divorced an imprisoned Jim Bakker and married Roe Messner, re-emerged as a television and cult personality — this time embracing gay men infected with the AIDS virus.

Her son is following in her footsteps — fighting to end religious and political discrimination against gays and lesbians, and presenting a nonjudgmental, inclusive face to his Christian faith.