“Love is for everyone.” That was the uplifting motto of Archbishop Carl Bean, a celebrated singer and spiritual leader who changed the Black gay community in more ways than one. In their new documentary, I Was Born This Way, titled after the hit disco song from 1977, award-winning filmmakers Daniel Junge (Challenger: The Final Flight) and Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI) explore Bean’s childhood trauma, his transition from professional singer to activist, and his unconventional path to becoming a reverend.
Before he was a humanitarian icon, Carl Bean was a young Baltimore, Maryland native struggling with his sexuality. He suffered sexual abuse at the hands of an uncle and was punished by his adoptive father for being intimate with a boy his age. This might be the darkest chapter in Bean’s life; even the brief moments of reprieve, like reconnecting with his birth mother, ended tragically. After her death, Baltimore had nothing left for Bean. At 16, he left it behind for New York, where he joined the Harlem Tabernacle choir and later sang with The Gospel Wonders.
When Carl relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, he formed the group Universal Love, which only recorded one album for ABC Records. He was sought out by Motown Records to sing “I Was Born This Way,” the 1977 gay anthem that quickly climbed the disco charts. He was an out and proud gay Black man in a time when few felt safe enough to do so. Estelle Brown, known for singing backup vocals for Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, and Elvis as part of The Sweet Inspirations, speaks in the documentary about how his pride, reassurance, and friendship helped her come out as a lesbian.
Although he still loved to sing, the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s inspired Carl to become a volunteer and visit neglected patients, many of whom were young Black men shunned by both of their communities. He had seen firsthand how unwelcoming Black churches were to gay people and their firm belief that homosexuality was a sin against God. His compassion comforted patients in their final days and attracted more people looking for a safe place to worship without feeling judged.
In 1982, Carl Bean became a reverend, and the following year, he founded the Unity Fellowship Church, the first LGBTQ+ church for people of color. However, his groundbreaking work was far from finished. He also co-founded the National Minority AIDS Council and established the Minority AIDS Project in Los Angeles.
The film features interviews with executive producers Billy Porter and Questlove, along with Lady Gaga, Dionne Warwick, and Rep. Maxine Waters. Porter bookends the documentary with his search for the original recording of “I Was Born This Way.” On his journey, he discovers an unreleased B-side, which he sets out to recreate. The revolutionary song heavily inspired Lady Gaga’s 2011 megahit “Born This Way,” a modern LGBTQ+ anthem that conveys the same pertinent message of acceptance and self-love.
While most of I Was Born This Way plays out like a straightforward documentary with talking heads and archival footage, Junge and Pollard also employ rotoscope animation to tell Carl’s story. They take us through his teen years with Samuel Dunn II playing Carl and his young adult days reenacted by Jasper Boykin.
Tonally, the film ranges from heartbreaking to hopeful, tragic to triumphant. Between the horrific things he endured in childhood and the old news footage of HIV-AIDS patients suffering, I cried no less than four times. Junge and Pollard also touch on the bizarre anti-disco movement, specifically the Disco Demolition Night in 1979 that saw over 50,000 so-called rock ‘n’ rollers destroy vinyl records at Chicago’s Comiskey Park while chanting “Disco Sucks!”
With racism in the gay community and homophobia in the Black community, Carl had his work cut out for him. He’d already survived a difficult upbringing and faced discrimination everywhere he turned, yet he still took on the pain of others and was determined to change the world. Sadly, on September 7, 2021, Carl Bean passed away. He’s greatly missed, but it warms the heart to know that he felt how much he was loved and the changes that came from all the much-needed positivity he brought into society.
I Was Born This Way chronicles the storied life of Carl Bean and his influential role in the intersection of race, sexuality, spirituality, and music. The touching documentary will stay with you long after the 100-minute runtime ends, as will the lyrics of the joyous, unapologetically gay anthem that inspired its title. For people like me who had no idea about Bean, this is a fascinating, educational, heart-wrenchingly beautiful film about an icon who made a massive impact and deserves his flowers.
I Was Born This Way had its world premiere June 5, at the 2025 Tribeca Festival.
