Customer Reviews

I Was Born This Way: A Gay Preacher's Journey through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ

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Carl Bean lived through unspeakable horrors, poverty, and the music industry and has triumphed over all of them with his unshakable faith in God and Love. Okay, honest, this is not the best written book, the narrative jumps and is a little inconsistent, however the book is the author's journey. The journey through compassion, through service, and through respecting the dignity of every marginalized people in the dawn of the AIDS epidemic is heart-wrenching and can teach us all about how to be better. Christianity, thanks to the religious right, has a terrible reputation of judgment, condemnation and fear. Thank you Reverend Bean for showing people that it isn't all like that.

Born into a life of poverty and abuse in Baltimore, Carl Bean managed to glean the positive forces within his life and Christian faith, eventually going off on his own to New York City, as an openly-gay 16 year old with a dream of becoming a famous gospel singer. After many years of ups and downs in the music industry, being cheated by those he trusted but who were jealous of his talent, he had a Motown disco hit, "I Was Born This Way," a gay anthem that caught on like wildfire. Offered a lucrative contract to sing "mainstream" balads (i.e., heterosexual love songs), Bean turned it down, eventually finding his calling to the ministry during the height of the AIDS crisis in Los Angeles. He founded the Unity Fellowship, the first area ministry that specifically had an outreach to minority individuals with AIDS, and which still exists today with churches in several cities.

This is a memoir filled with seemingly insurmountable problems in his life, which he handles with great faith ... not necessarily just faith in God, but faith in good people to help a fellow man. An uplifting, spirited story of an extraordinary individual who found his calling and personal fulfillment. Especially recommended for fans of gospel or early R&B singers, many of whom are an intergral part of the story. Four stars out of five.

Carl Bean may not be a well-known name, but his life story is both extraordinary and shocking. Carl was born in the North East in Baltimore where as a young boy he was constantly sexually abused by heterosexual males. As the years went by he discovered he had a fondness for music, and he is perhaps most known in the gay community as a so-called "one hit wonder" having released the song "I Was Born This Way", a gay disco anthem that hit the charts in 1977 on Motown Records. He eventually left recording and became a minister and a proponent for AIDS/HIV.
If you love biographies and enjoy reading about the ups and downs of people, "I Was Born This Way" will satisfy your thirst. As a gay man I especially enjoyed reading this book about a man growing up in the very conservative 1940's and 1950's and realizing that no matter how hard I may have had it, homosexual men like Bean are an example that if you have faith and believe in yourself you can and will survive.

I remember dancing to this song at the disco so many years ago. I had no idea who Carl Bean was. All I knew was the beat was catchy and the lyrics very appropriate. And the fact that it was on the Motown label was even more fantastic.

I sent a copy anonomously to a homophobic Man-Of-The Cloth after reading it, because I felt he needed to be enlightened. A great book about the struggles of so many Black males coping with the trials and tribulations of growing up in a very confusing time.

This book is an eye opener on many levels. This testament of Archbishop Bean life is an example of Love, Life and Liberation in God! In this book you will meet truth and love with much devotion to God and his peoples! He is a man wraped with reverence, grace and compassion. Yes I know Archbishop! I have heard the Voice of God's loving power spring-forth form his lips. I'm a member of his flock in Newark New Jersey. He is a true Vicar of Jesus Christ and his story will lead you down his own Via Dolorosa for God and his sheep! if you been affected by HIV, read this! If your family shunned you read this! If you have been a victim of sex and drug addiction read this, if you are LGBTQ YOUNG OR OLD read this! If you love God or any spiritual positive force that demands you to love every one read this! It will lead you to Christ.

i have only read the first few chapters of the book. It is well written and compelling. I only know of Carl Bean because of his ground breaking house song "I was born this way." It was/is a classic house-music song. It is nice to read about the author. It is unfortunate but predictable that the author experienced and discusses abuse in the book. I look forward to reading more about this American story.

A wonderful,very insightful, informative account of the Archbishops journey and his life. It spans the Gospel Music era, includes the Aids Crisis and the formation of the Ministry.

Just when you think Carl Bean's life can't get any worse, it does. And just when you think his story can't get any better, it does as well. Both horrifying and inspiring; revolutionary and jaw-dropping, "I Was Born This Way" is a book that will amaze, shock, and delight the reader in ways unimaginable.

This is a book that defies classification. Part autobiography, part religious, part gay history, part social activism, all parts come together beautifully, seamlessly in his tale. Born from teenagers, Carl spent the early part of his life passed around a bit until he lands in the home of relatives he would eventually call Mom and Dad. He also spends it finding out about his sexuality early, as well as becoming the target of much sexual abuse as a child. Carl recounts these episodes quickly, yet powerfully. He doesn't dwell on the event, but more the emotional impact of it, and how he learned to gather inner strength from them. He is a true survivor.

As he grows up, this survivor instinct takes over as his life ricochets from the worlds of church and music to clubs and disease. It's quite an incredible tale, and it was one that gripped me from the moment I started reading it. Like others have said, you simply cannot put this book down.

Carl recorded a "gay anthem" of sorts in the 1970's, expressing his pride in his queerness. It's unique and one that I hadn't heard before. No doubt with the release of this fascinating memoir, resurgence in his music and song will come back, and we shall hear it again. In the meantime, I'll be reading this book.