Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Keith Boykin talks about 'The Right Thing to Do' at NEIU
by Matthew C. Clark
2012-10-17

This article shared 3922 times since Wed Oct 17, 2012
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


"Mom, I'm gay."

A hush fell over the room of about a hundred people. The speaker in the front, Keith Boykin, was telling his coming-out story. He had paused for effect after the recited pronouncement.

"And there was a pause just like that," he then added, to several chuckles in the audience.

As part of Northeastern Illinois University's (NEIU) celebration of National Coming Out Week, Boykin, gave a presentation Oct. 11. Boykin was a special assistant in Bill Clinton's White House administration, making him the highest ranking gay person in the executive branch at the time; he is also the host of "My 2 Cents" as well as an author. He recently edited a collection of essays entitled For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Still Not Enough: Coming of Age, Coming Out, and Coming Home.

Boykin's address touched on a number of topics all around his own life experiences, coming out, and learning to do the right thing.

"Knowing the right thing to do is not the same thing as doing it," he told the crowd after an opening anecdote.

Boykin discussed his involvement in the Coalition for Civil Rights, a group of Harvard Law School students who sought to diversify the school's faculty in the late '80s and early '90s. The group filed a suit that went all the way to the Massachusetts Supreme Court before ultimately being dismissed.

It wasn't until Boykin's second year of law school that he said he began to reflect on his own sexual orientation. After the long pause, Boykin said the first thing his mother told him was, "I love you."

While sometimes casual and joking, he also stressed serious topics, such as the differences between identity, behavior and orientation. Discussions about sexual orientation, he said, require a level of nuance.

"We need to bring sophistication out of the closet," he said.

He also discussed the debates in the early '90s about gays in the military during the time he was working in the White House, when "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was implemented. He compared the arguments against gays and lesbians serving in the military with those that justified racial segregation in the military. He also stressed that you can compare issues of race and sexual orientation without conflating or equating the two.

His latest book is intended to be a response to the series of suicides of young, LGBT youth in 2010, particularly those of young men of color that went unreported by the mainstream media.

Boykin also discussed the impact of Obama's support for gay marriage on the Black community. He said that Obama acted as an enabler of support, citing the NAACP, Colin Powel and Jay-Z as an institution and popular figures who've come out in support of gay marriage.

"We know the right thing to do, but it is not the same as doing it," he said.


This article shared 3922 times since Wed Oct 17, 2012
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

After 30 Under 30: MAP Executive Director Naomi Goldberg
2024-03-25
NOTE: In this series, Windy City Times will profile some of its past 30 Under 30 honorees. Windy City Times started its 30 Under 30 Awards in 2001, presenting them each year through 2019. This year, ...


Gay News

Kara Swisher talks truth, power in tech at Chicago Humanities event
2024-03-25
Lesbian author, award-winning journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher spoke about truth and power in the tech industry through the lens of her most recent book, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, March 21 at First ...


Gay News

THEATER Chicago's City Lit has anxiety on tap with 'Two Hours in a Bar'
2024-03-21
Two Hours in a Bar Waiting for Tina Meyer by Kristine Thatcher with material by Larry Shue Text Me by Kingsley Day (Book, Music and Lyrics). At: City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.. Tickets: ...


Gay News

RuPaul finds 'Hidden Meanings' in new memoir
2024-03-18
RuPaul Andre Charles made a rare Chicago appearance for a book tour on March 12 at The Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave. Presented by National Public Radio station WBEZ 91.5 FM, the talk coincided with ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Altercation, mpox research, Univ. of Fla., George Santos, tech battle
2024-03-08
Video footage uploaded to Facebook showed an altercation between a state trooper and two prominent Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, the Washington Blade reported, republishing an article from Philadelphia Gay News. Celena ...


Gay News

Without compromise: Holly Baggett explores lives of iconoclasts Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap
2024-03-04
Jane Heap (1883-1964) and Margaret Anderson (1886-1973), each of them a native Midwesterner, woman of letters and iconoclast, had a profound influence on literary culture in both America and Europe in the early 20th Century. Heap ...


Gay News

THEATER When growth is paramount: Jim Corti helps fuel Aurora theater expansion
2024-03-01
Out actor/director/choreographer Jim Corti made his Broadway debut in 1974, in the ensemble of Leonard Bernstein's musical Candide. Director Harold Prince's acclaimed Tony Award-winning revival is often cited as a ...


Gay News

There she goes again: Author Alison Cochrun discusses writing journey
2024-02-27
By Carrie Maxwell When Alison Cochrun began writing her first queer romance novel in 2019, she had no idea it would change the course of her entire life. Cochrun, who spent 11 years as a high ...


Gay News

Theater Review: Billy Elliot, The Musical
2024-02-19
Book and Lyrics: Lee Hall; Music: Elton John. At: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora Tickets: 630-896-6666 or Paramountaurora.com; $28-$79. Runs through March 24 Billy Elliot: The Musical may nearly be two decades old, but ...


Gay News

SPORTS Chicago Hounds' Nick McCarthy reflects on being out in professional rugby
2024-01-24
In recent years, people from numerous high-profile fields have publicly declared themselves as members of the LGBTQ+ community. Among them have been individuals from tech (such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple CEO Tim Cook), ...


Gay News

USA Boxing adds policy regarding trans competitors
2024-01-04
Boxing's highest national governing body, USA Boxing, added a transgender athlete policy to its rulebook that requires genital-reassignment surgery and strict hormone testing for adults before competition, NBC News noted. ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Women's college, banned books, military initiative, Oregon
2023-12-29
After backlash regarding a decision to update its anti-discrimination policy and open enrollment to some transgender applicants, a Catholic women's college in Indiana will return to its previous admission policy, per The National Catholic Reporter. In ...


Gay News

NATIONAL School items, Miami attack, Elliot Page, Fire Island
2023-12-22
In Virginia, new and returning members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and Fairfax County School Board were inaugurated—with some school board members opting to use banned books on the topics of slavery and LGBTQ+ ...


Gay News

Chicago author's new guide leads lesbian fiction authors toward inspiration and publication
2023-12-07
From a press release: Award-winning and bestselling lesbian fiction author Elizabeth Andre—the pen name for a Chicago-based interracial lesbian couple—has published her latest book, titled Self-Publishing Lesbian Fiction, Write Your ...


Gay News

MOVIES Director Daniel Peddle on the sequel to the classic doc 'The Aggressives'
2023-12-05
In 2005, Daniel Peddle released The Aggressives—a groundbreaking documentary filmed during the late '90s and early '00s in New York City that profiled several masculine-presenting/transmasculine people of color. Fast-forward to ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.