{{short description|American author, producer, and political commentator (born 1965)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Keith Boykin | image = Keith Boykin by Ricky Day.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|8|28}} | birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | occupation = {{Hlist | Author | political commentator | television producer}}<!-- Occupation(s) as given in the lead (see MOS:ROLEBIO) --> | education = {{Ubl | Dartmouth College (BA) | Harvard Law School (JD)}} | website = {{URL|keithboykin.com}} }}
'''Keith Boykin''' (born August 28, 1965) is an American author, political commentator, and television producer. A former aide to President Bill Clinton, he served in the Clinton White House as a special assistant from 1993 to 1995.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Rapp |first=Linda |date=October 26, 2022 |title=Boykin, Keith |url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/boykin_k_S.pdf |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=glbtq archive}}</ref><ref name="blackpast">{{Cite web |last=Dartis |first=Michelle D. |title=Boykin, Keith (1965– ) |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/boykin-keith-1965/ |access-date=May 28, 2026 |website=BlackPast}}</ref> He is the author of several books on race and sexuality, including the ''New York Times'' bestseller ''Beyond the Down Low'', and has worked as a political commentator for CNBC and CNN. A longtime LGBTQ rights activist, he co-founded the National Black Justice Coalition.<ref name=":0" />
== Early life == Boykin was born on August 28, 1965, in St. Louis, Missouri.<ref name="blackpast" /><ref name="cbb">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Boykin, Keith 1965– |encyclopedia=Contemporary Black Biography |publisher=Gale |via=Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/boykin-keith-1965 |access-date=May 28, 2026}}</ref> He grew up mainly in the mostly white suburb of Florissant, where he developed an early interest in government and leadership and took part in student government and several sports, including track and field and wrestling.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="blackpast" />
At the age of fifteen, Boykin moved to Florida to live with his father, William O. Boykin, who had relocated to start a beauty supply business.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Boykin |first=Keith |title=Quitting: Why I Left My Job to Live a Life of Freedom |publisher=Scribd Originals |year=2022 |isbn=978-1094451107}}</ref> He attended Countryside High School in Clearwater, Florida, where he became president of the student government, edited the school newspaper, debated, and competed in varsity track and field.<ref name=":0" />
Boykin enrolled at Dartmouth College in 1983.<ref name=":0" /> In 1984 he received the William S. Churchill Prize for an outstanding freshman, and in 1987 he won the Barrett Cup as the most distinguished member of the graduating class.<ref name=":0" /> At Dartmouth he served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, ran on the track team, and studied abroad in Spain; he graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in government.<ref name="blackpast" />
After Dartmouth, Boykin worked on Michael Dukakis's presidential campaign from June 1987 to November 1988.<ref name=":1" /> He began studies at Harvard Law School in 1989, where he edited the Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review.<ref name=":0" /> He also took part in the Coalition for Civil Rights, a student group that pressed the law school to diversify its faculty, and joined ten other students in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the school.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=keithboykin |number=1417469590574088206 |date=July 20, 2021 |title=This was the day I became an activist… |author=Keith Boykin |access-date=June 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet |user=keithboykin |number=1417832483765239811 |date=July 21, 2021 |title="Today we use the only instrument of power Harvard Law School seems to understand"… |author=Keith Boykin |access-date=June 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Philip |title=The Griswold 9 and Student Activism for Faculty Diversity at Harvard Law School in the Early 1990s |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/philip_lee/files/27harvjracialethnicjust49.pdf |journal=Harvard Journal of Racial and Ethnic Justice |volume=27 |pages=49–96}}</ref>
==Career== After graduating from Harvard in 1992, Boykin briefly worked at a San Francisco law firm where he had previously interned, before leaving to join Bill Clinton's presidential campaign as Midwest press director.<ref name=":0" />
Following Clinton's victory in 1992, Boykin joined the Clinton White House as a special assistant to the president, serving as director of news analysis and later as director of specialty media.<ref name=":1" /> In April 1993, he helped arrange the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and representatives of the LGBTQ community.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kratz |first=Jessie |date=June 14, 2016 |title=National Archives Celebrates Pride Month |url=https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2016/06/14/national-archives-celebrates-pride-month/ |access-date=November 11, 2022 |website=Pieces of History |language=en-US}}</ref> The meeting included eight people from three organizations: the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum, and the March on Washington Committee.<ref name=":0" />
Boykin left the White House in January 1995 to write his first book, ''One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in America'', which examined the particular challenges faced by Black LGBTQ people.<ref name=":0" /> He later wrote ''Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America'', a ''New York Times'' bestseller.<ref name=":0" />
In late 1995, Boykin became executive director of the National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum.<ref name=":0" /> In ''Quitting'', he recalls that during his tenure the organization mounted a contingent in the Million Man March, held three national conferences, opened an office in Washington, D.C., hired a small staff, and hosted community events.<ref name=":1" /> He spoke at the Millennium March on Washington for LGBTQ rights in 2000.<ref>{{cite AV media |date=December 25, 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlbgPzu0Slw |title=Keith Boykin Speaks At The Millennium March on Washington |publisher=Keith Boykin |via=YouTube |access-date=December 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114153008/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlbgPzu0Slw |archive-date=November 14, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>
From 1999 to 2001, Boykin taught political science as an adjunct professor at American University in Washington, D.C.<ref name=":0" /> In 2001 he moved to New York City, where he co-founded the National Black Justice Coalition in 2003; the organization describes its mission as ending racism, homophobia, and bias against LGBTQ and same-gender-loving people.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://nbjc.org/nbjcabout-us/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=National Black Justice Coalition}}</ref>
In 2004, Boykin and his partner at the time, Nathan Hale Williams, appeared on the Showtime reality series ''American Candidate''; they were described as the first openly Black gay couple to appear on a reality television program.<ref>{{Citation |title=American Candidate |date=August 1, 2004 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419306/ |type=Reality-TV |publisher=Actual Reality Pictures, Showtime Networks |access-date=November 14, 2022}}</ref>
In 2005, Minister Louis Farrakhan invited Boykin to speak at the tenth-anniversary commemoration of the Million Man March, but the invitation was withdrawn shortly before the event after one of its organizers, the Reverend Willie F. Wilson, objected to his participation.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Farrakhan march nixes out gay speaker |url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?236349 |access-date=November 14, 2022 |website=Bay Area Reporter |language=en-us}}</ref>
In February 2006, Boykin became co-host of the current-affairs program ''My Two Cents'' on BET J, which examined topical issues for Black audiences.<ref name=":0" /> He also worked as an associate producer on the 2006 film ''Dirty Laundry''.<ref>{{Citation |title=Dirty Laundry (2006) |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795371/fullcredits |access-date=November 14, 2022 |via=IMDb}}</ref>
Boykin served as a contributor to CNBC from 2008 to 2016 and to CNN from January 2017 to January 2022.<ref name=":0" /> He has also appeared on VH1, BET, MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR, and on programs including ''The Montel Williams Show'', ''The Tom Joyner Morning Show'', ''Tony Brown's Journal'', and ''Anderson Cooper 360''.<ref name=":0" /> He was named one of ''Out'' magazine's "Out 100" in 2004 and has been featured or quoted in ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''USA Today'', ''Vibe'', and ''Jet''.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Out100 |url=https://www.out.com/out100 |access-date=November 14, 2022 |website=Out |language=en}}</ref>
As a writer, Boykin has contributed to outlets including ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Village Voice'', the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', the ''St. Petersburg Times'', ''The Advocate'', ''Black Issues Book Review'', and ''The Crisis''.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=Biden waited too long to engage on voting rights. It'll cost him — and voters |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/01/14/biden-voting-rights-filibuster/ |access-date=November 11, 2022 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> His syndicated column appeared in newspapers including ''The New York Blade'', the ''Washington Blade'', ''Southern Voice'', and the ''Houston Voice''.<ref name=":0" />
==Personal life== Boykin has described several of his forebears in interviews and on social media. His great-great-grandfather, the Rev. John H. Dickerson, an A.M.E. pastor, served as grand master of the Prince Hall Affiliated Masons of Florida from 1899 to 1916 and chaired the 1912 Florida state Republican convention.{{better source needed|date=May 2026}}<ref>{{cite tweet |user=keithboykin |number=868098713859829760 |date=May 26, 2017 |title=My great great grandfather, John H. Dickerson, was the chairman of the 1912 Florida State Republican Convention |author=Keith Boykin |access-date=October 28, 2022}}</ref> His great-grandfather, Horatio Dickerson, served in the 369th Infantry Regiment (the "Harlem Hellfighters") from 1917 to 1919, and his grandfather, John H. Dickerson Sr., was principal of Campbell Street Elementary School in Daytona Beach, Florida.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=keithboykin |number=1061651842084626436 |date=November 11, 2018 |title=As we mark the Armistice… |author=Keith Boykin |access-date=June 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=2022 Black History Icons |url=https://www.codb.us/1265/2022-Black-History-Icons |access-date=November 14, 2022 |website=City of Daytona Beach}}</ref>
Boykin publicly came out as gay in his 1996 book ''One More River to Cross: Black & Gay in America''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=One More River to Cross by Keith Boykin |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/16878/one-more-river-to-cross-by-keith-boykin/ |access-date=November 11, 2022 |website=Penguin Random House |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2006, he won a gold medal in wrestling at the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gay Games VII: Sweating in the Windy City |url=http://www.wrestlerswob.com/legacy/history_gg7.htm |access-date=November 14, 2022 |website=Wrestlers WOB}}</ref> He first met his biological father, John Dickerson, a chemist, in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Henry Dickerson Jr.'s Obituary (1938–2016) |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/news-journalonline/name/john-dickerson-obituary?id=15082770 |access-date=November 14, 2022 |website=Legacy.com}}</ref>
In 2022, Boykin moved to Los Angeles while keeping a residence in New York City. He has two godsons whom he considers his sons.<ref name=":1" />
==Published works== * ''One More River to Cross: Black & Gay in America''. Anchor Books. 1996. {{ISBN|978-0385479837}}. * ''Respecting the Soul: Daily Reflections for Black Lesbians and Gays''. Avon Books. 1999. {{ISBN|0380800217}}. * ''Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America''. Carroll & Graf. 2004. {{ISBN|0786714344}}.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bond |first=Mindy |url=http://gothamist.com/2005/06/08/keith_boykin_author_beyond_the_down_low.php |title=Keith Boykin, Author, Beyond the Down Low |publisher=Gothamist |date=June 8, 2005 |access-date=November 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326014315/http://gothamist.com/2005/06/08/keith_boykin_author_beyond_the_down_low.php |archive-date=March 26, 2015}}</ref> * ''For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Still Not Enough'' (editor). Magnus Books. 2012. {{ISBN|1936833158}}. * ''Race Against Time: The Politics of a Darkening America''. Bold Type Books. 2021. {{ISBN|978-1645037262}}. * ''Quitting: Why I Left My Job to Live a Life of Freedom''. Scribd Originals. 2022. {{ISBN|978-1094451107}}. * ''Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race?''. Bold Type Books. 2024. {{ISBN|978-1541703315}}.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{official website|https://www.keithboykin.com}} * {{IMDb name|1658241}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boykin, Keith}} Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Writers from St. Louis Category:African-American novelists Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American University faculty Category:Dartmouth College alumni Category:African-American LGBTQ people Category:American gay writers Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Lambda Literary Award winners Category:Stonewall Book Award winners Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:American LGBTQ novelists Category:American male novelists Category:American male essayists Category:American male short story writers Category:21st-century American short story writers Category:21st-century American essayists Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century African-American writers Category:20th-century African-American people Category:African-American male writers