Today In Black LGBTQ+ History: KEITH BOYKIN

TODAY IN BLACK LGBTQ+ HISTORY, we celebrate author, commentator, speaker, political advisor, and columnist Keith Boykin.

Boykin was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 28, 1965 but was raised in the suburb of Florissant, Missouri. He graduated from Dartmouth with a B.A. degree in 1987. After Dartmouth, Boykin became a press aide to then Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. When Dukakis ran for President in 1988, he at 23 was named Georgia state secretary for the Dukakis campaign. Boykin graduated from Harvard Law in 1992 and shortly afterwards accepted a position at a San Francisco law firm. He left before the end of the year to join the Bill Clinton presidential campaign as a Midwest press director, and later became Director of Specialty Media. Boykin is credited with arranging the first meeting between a sitting president (Clinton) and LGBTQ leaders in April 1993. In January 1995, Boykin resigned from his White House position to focus on his first book, One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in America. In later years, he authored three more bestsellers, including his latest, For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Still Not Enough: Coming of Age, Coming Out, and Coming Home. 

Keith Boykin is a reminder to us all that when you stand and share your story in an empowering way, your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else. Today I encourage you to share your story in an empowering way, and let healing have it’s perfect way.