Carl Bean

Biography

Carl Bean (May 26, 1944 – September 7, 2021) was an openly gay African-American singer and activist who was the founding prelate of the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, a liberal Protestant denomination particularly welcoming of lesbians, gay and bisexual African Americans. Bean was born on May 26, 1944, in Baltimore, Maryland. Before founding the first church of the denomination, the Unity Fellowship Church, Los Angeles, in 1975, Bean was a Motown and disco singer, noted particularly for his version of the early gay liberation song "I Was Born This Way", which inspired Lady Gaga's Grammy-nominated 2011 album and song of the same name. In 1982, Bean became an activist, working on behalf of people with AIDS in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, coinciding with the rise of the AIDS epidemic. He was involved with several organizations, including the National Minority AIDS Council, co-founded in 1987 alongside fellow activists Gilberto Gerald, Craig G. Harris, Paul Kawata, Calu Lester, Don Edwards, Suki Ports, Timm Offutt, Norm Nickens, Marie St.-Cyr, and Sandra McDonald. Bean founded the Minority AIDS Project in Los Angeles with the goal of supporting people with AIDS, especially young African-American men. It is still in operation. In 1992, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation named an AIDS hospice center in South Los Angeles after him. It was in operation until 2006. Bean's autobiography, I Was Born This Way, released in 2010. He died at the age of 77 on September 7, 2021.