Queer legend, minister, and gospel singer Carl Bean, who gave us the iconic, LGBTQ, disco anthem, “I Was Born This Way,” died last week at 77, The Guardian reports.
One of queer activism’s strongest pillars, Bean founded LGBTQ-affirming church the Unity Fellowship Church Movement and worked tirelessly throughout his life for HIV/AIDS advocacy.
“Our hearts go out to all as we mourn the loss of this trailblazing leader and legend in the worlds of activism, advocacy, AIDS, community outreach, faith, liberation theology, and so much more,” the Church said in a statement after Bean’s passing.
Thousands of people online have shown their admiration and gratitude for Bean online, including stars like Lady Gaga, whose chart-topping hit “Born This Way” was inspired by Bean’s music. “Thank you for decades of relentless love, bravery, and a reason to sing,” Gaga wrote on Instagram earlier this year as she marked her album’s anniversary. “We deserve the right to inspire tolerance, acceptance, and freedom for all.”
Bean was born in 1944 Baltimore, and at 12 years old, he came out to his family and his church, both of whom rejected him. “I had done nothing but be born gay,” Bean told the Los Angeles Times in 1992.
At just 16, Bean started to pursue a career in music, and in 1977, he recorded his version of “I Was Born This Way” that would go on to become the timeless hit. The lyrics continue to be joyously sung in queer spaces around the world to this day: “I’m happy, I’m carefree, and I’m gay / I was born this way.”
Bean decided to channel his newfound pop fame into a meaningful cause, founding the Unity Fellowship Church Movement in 1982. His goal was to welcome Black, LGBTQ congregants who had been told that they didn’t belong at other churches. The Fellowship continues to be a booming success, with 17 outposts across the U.S. and Caribbean Islands.
“My ministry will always be a continuum of dealing with the disenfranchised, providing for the poorest of the poor, the undocumented person, persons who can’t speak the language, persons in and out of the prison system, kids out of the gangs … to touch those who are considered the untouchables,” Bean told the Times.
Bean’s tremendous impact on the global LGBTQ community is unmistakable. Rest in peace, Carl Bean.
????More sad news fam…HIV/AIDS activist Archbishop Carl Bean, the founder of Minority AIDS Project and Unity Fellowship Church–often nicknamed the Black gay church for being the country's 1st Black church affirming of the #LGBTQ community has transitioned and is now an ancestor. pic.twitter.com/r5bOBhyPtj — Jasmyne Cannick (@Jasmyne) September 7, 2021
