I Was Born This Way is a feature-length documentary exploring the life and legacy of Archbishop Carl Bean—Baltimore-born gospel singer, LGBTQ+ activist, and the voice behind the groundbreaking 1977 anthem “I Was Born This Way.”
When Bean recorded the song, it was only the beginning of his mission to create positive change. He went on to found the Minority AIDS Project and the world’s first LGBTQ+ church for people of color, becoming a trailblazing figure in faith-based activism, music, and social justice.
Using innovative rotoscope animation and featuring appearances by Lady Gaga, Questlove, Billy Porter, and Dionne Warwick, the film celebrates Bean’s enduring message that love is for everyone. This screening is presented as part of CCBC Arts programming in recognition of the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, honoring Black voices, history, and cultural impact.
👉 Learn more about the film: https://iwasbornthiswayfilm.com/
Watch the trailer for I Was Born This Way
All CCBC students, faculty, staff, and community members are welcome to attend this free screening. This special event offers an opportunity to experience a beautiful, moving film on campus—whether you’re coming on your own, bringing a partner, or making it a shared evening with friends. Light snacks will be provided.
Seating is limited, and free tickets are required. Students and faculty should reserve tickets using their CCBC email address. www.tinyurl.com/borntickets2026
I Was Born This Way invites audiences into a powerful story about love, identity, and community. Following the film, join us for a conversation that brings together artists, educators, and community leaders to explore its themes and lasting relevance. Read on to learn more about the panelists who will guide the discussion.
Sam Pollard, Film Director
Sam Pollard is an accomplished feature film and television editor, and documentary producer/director. Between 1990 and 2010, Pollard edited several Spike Lee films: Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Girl 6, Clockers, and Bamboozled. Pollard and Lee co-produced several documentary productions for the small and big screen, Four Little Girls, a feature-length documentary about the 1963 Birmingham church bombings which was nominated for an Academy Award, and When the Levees Broke, a four-part documentary that won numerous awards, including a Peabody and three Emmy Awards. Five years later in 2010 he co-produced and supervised the edit on the Levees follow-up film, If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise.
Since 2012, Pollard has completed as a producer/director Slavery by Another Name, a 90-minute documentary for PBS that was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival; August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand, a 90-minute documentary in 2015 for American Masters; Two Trains Runnin’, a feature-length documentary in 2016 that premiered at the Full Frame Film Festival. Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me for American Masters premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2019, Pollard co-directed the six-part series Why We Hate that premiered on the Discovery Channel.
In 2020 he was one of the directors on the HBO series Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children. He also completed in 2020 MLK/FBI, which premiered at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. In 2021 HBO premiered two of his films Black Art: In the Absence of Light and Citizen Ashe. The years 2022 and 2023 have been very productive for Pollard. He completed Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, a film he co-directed with Gandbhir, the two-part documentary Bill Russell: Legend, about the legendary Boston Celtic and civil rights icon that premiered on Netflix in 2023. And that same year he premiered Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes, a film he co-directed with Ben Shapiro, that had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. And the film South to Black Power, inspired by New York Times columnist Charles Blow’s book The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto, co-directed by Pollard and Llewellyn Smith premiered on HBO in 2023.
Cori Robinson, Executive Producer; niece of Carl Bean
Cori Robinson is the great-niece of Carl Bean but their bond was that of father and daughter. They shared a profound love for music and the performing arts and Carl always encouraged Cori to follow her dreams. In fact, when she was ready to make the big move to New York City to pursue a career as a performing artist, it was Carl who personally drove her to the YMCA on 135th Street (also one of his early homes), kissed her cheek with his blessings and said, “Go live, daughter.”
Cori is a multi-disciplined artist with accolades as a singer, actress and writer. When she was 17 years old, she became the youngest performer to accompany the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s annual Live, Gifted, and Black program with narrative classical-style singing and a dramatic reading. Cori has gone on to work with companies such as Opera Ebony, being featured at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club and The Apollo Theater, as well as working with a diverse group of acclaimed artists including: Chadwick Boseman, Chris Rock, Gwen Stefani, Kristen Wiig, Kanye West and Carson Daly. Her credits also include appearances on Saturday Night Live, The Corner, As the World Turns, Homicide: Life on the Street, Rescue Me and The Head of State. She has also performed in a variety of Off-Broadway and regional theater productions.
Bo Frazier, Artist-in-Residence
at Baltimore Center Stage; Creator of Trans History Projec
Bo Frazier (they/them) is a Jeff Award-Nominated trans non-binary theatre director based in Baltimore. Currently Artist in Residence at Baltimore Center Stage, they created the Trans History Project developing 10 new plays about trans identity and gender nonconformity from history across all cultures. Bo’s international career spans across London, NYC, and Chicago, where they have worked with companies such as Goodman Theatre, National Theatre London, Signature Theatre, Dixon Place, NAMT, AMTP, Theatre167, Heartbeat Opera, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Sideshow Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and London Theatre Workshop which they co-founded. Select Directing & Choreography: All-trans production of tick, tick…BOOM!, (Jeff Award Nom – Best Director and Best Musical), Botticelli in the Fire by Jordan Tannahill (Jeff Award Nom–Best Director), Hit the Wall by Ike Holter, Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus, Love & Information by Caryl Churchill, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens, and Associate Director for the London Premiere of bare: the rock musical. Bo started their career as a musical theatre performer, most notably appearing in the London Revival of Sondheim’s Assassins. Training: MFA in Directing – University of Iowa alongside the Iowa Playwright’s Workshop. Finalist: Princess Grace Award and SDC Barbara Whitman Award. www.bofrazier.com
Damon Krometis, CCBC Theatre Coordinator
Damon Krometis is an Associate Professor of Theatre and the Theatre Coordinator at the Community College of Baltimore County. His research focuses on questions of ethics, social justice, and immersive audience participation. His work has been published in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Theatre Topics, and HowlRound Theatre Commons. He holds an MFA Directing from Northwestern University, where his thesis focused on combining witness theory with immersive theatre aesthetics. He is currently directing The Christians at CCBC Catonsville, opening April 23.
Andre Powell, Baltimore LGBTQ+ activist; founder of CCBC Essex Gay Student Union
Andre Powell, now an Elder in Baltimore’s LGBTQ community now age 71 began as an organizer and advocate at age 21 with the Baltimore Gay Alliance in 1975. He was deeply inspired by reading about the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion in NYC and the year of political activism that followed leading up to the first ‘Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day Parade’. It was held on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion in 1970. He found the Baltimore Gay Alliance at their booth at the City Fair and has been organizing for queer liberation ever since. Over the decades he has founded Gay student groups, successfully lobbied for passage of gay rights bills in Baltimore City and the state of Maryland. In addition he represented the Mid-Atlantic region on the National Steering Committee of the 1987 March On Washington D.C. for Lesbian and Gay Rights, and was a member of ACTUP Baltimore. He also served as an outreach worker with the National Task force on AIDS Prevention and the Stop AIDS Campaign which developed outreach to hard to reach minority gay men during the 1990s. Currently he is an organizer with the Struggle for Socialism Party in Baltimore.
Morgan Slusher, CCBC Emeritus Professor of Psychology; advisor to the CCBC Rainbow Club
Dr. Morgan Slusher is currently a CCBC Professor Emeritus of Psychology, having retired in 2023 after 27 years on the CCBC faculty. During his time at CCBC, he taught courses in both social and general psychology, and served as a longtime advisor to the Rainbow Club LGBTQ+ student organization on the Essex Campus. He was also a founding member of CLASI, the Committee for LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Support & Inclusion, and helped establish and lead CCBC’s Safe Zone Training Program to better prepare college faculty and staff to support LGBTQ+ students. Dr. Slusher also represented CCBC for many years at BMORE PROUD, a coalition of LGBTQ+ student organizations at colleges and universities throughout the Baltimore region. He currently resides in Washington, DC, where he is an active member of Foundry United Methodist Church and a singing member of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC.
Take a closer look at I Was Born This Way through moments from the film and related programming, offering insight into its visual style and the people behind the story.
See I Was Born This Way film screening and panel discussion February 12 at CCBC Essex, Robert and Eleanor Romadka College Center, F. Scott Black Theatre, 7201 Rossville Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21237.
Event Schedule: 2:00 PM – Networking, student clubs & free snacks; 3:00 PM – Film screening; 4:40 PM – Post-screening panel discussion
Reserve your free ticket: https://tinyurl.com/borntickets2026
(CCBC students sign in with your CCBC email)
Student Clubs & Organizations
Clubs and organizations are invited to host an informational table beginning at 2:00 p.m. as part of the pre-event activities.
For tabling inquiries, please email Irina Laptiva, ilapteva@ccbcmd.edu
This event is supported by the Rising Together Grant through the President’s Advisory Council and presented in collaboration with CLASI (CCBC’s Committee for LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Support, and Inclusion), CCBC Arts Pathway, CCBC Queer Club, and CCBC Intercultural Engagement Office.