AIDS Healthcare Foundation on Sept. 8 mourned the passing of noted AIDS activist and openly gay Black preacher the Rev. Carl Bean, an icon in the fight against stigma and discrimination in communities of color.

Early in the AIDS pandemic, AHF named one of its three AIDS hospices in honor of Bean. AHF operated the 25-bed Carl Bean House in the West Adams District of South Los Angeles from 1992 to February 2006, when it ceased providing hospice services at the site due to decreasing need. At the time of its closure, it was the only AIDS hospice and 24-hour residential HIV/AIDS nursing care facility in Los Angeles, and more than 3,000 people lived there.

“Archbishop Carl Bean was my brother in the struggle for the last 35 years,” AHF President Michael Weinstein said. “We marched through the fire together during the height of the pain and the dying. Regardless of the pressures that could have divided us, we were always there for each other. An irreplaceable part of our history is retired with his death. However, a small piece of his legacy of service lives on at the Carl Bean House, which started as a hospice and still serves today as sacred ground and a place of healing. Rest in the peace, you richly-earned dear friend and comrade.”

AHF board member Cynthia Davis said she was “deeply saddened” by Bean’s passing but thanked him for his dedication to marginalized populations.

“I remember walking door to door, canvasing the neighborhood to inform the community about what we intended with Carl Bean House in order to get buy-in from the community for what ultimately turned out to be a remarkable facility named for a remarkable individual,” she said.

Now, a state-of-the-art AHF Healthcare Center is located on the premises on Adams Boulevard just west of Western Avenue. In addition, the Carl Bean campus is also home to In The Meantime Men’s Group, an organization that “has been on the forefront of creating an environment that supports, empowers and educates black, gay, same gender-loving and bisexual men in Los Angeles County.