Malcolm Boyd (June 8, 1923 – February 27, 2015) was an American
Episcopal priest and author. He was active in the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
as one of the
Freedom Riders in 1961 and as a minister. Boyd was also active in the
anti-Vietnam War movement
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social mov ...
. In 1977 Boyd "came out", revealing that he was homosexual and becoming a spokesman for gay rights.
In 1965, Boyd published a book of prayers, ''
Are You Running with Me, Jesus?'', which became a bestseller.
[Pat McCaughan, "Malcolm Boyd at 90: Still writing, still ‘running,’ still inspiring"](_blank)
, ''Episcopal News Service,'' 7 June 2013, accessed 11 January 2015 In 2005 it was published in a 40th-anniversary edition. In 2013 he served as a poet/writer in residence at St. Paul Cathedral in Los Angeles.
Early life
Boyd was born in 1923 in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, the son of Beatrice Lowrie, a fashion model, and Melville Boyd, a financier and investment banker whose own father (also named Malcolm) was an Episcopal priest. Boyd was raised as an Episcopalian (his maternal grandfather was Jewish).
In the early 1930s Boyd's parents divorced; his mother retained custody of him.
Boyd moved with his mother to
Colorado Springs, Colorado, and then to Denver.
[ During his time in college, despite early spiritual interests, he decided he was an atheist.][ In the 1940s Boyd moved to Hollywood and rented a room in $15.00 a week boarding house on ]Franklin Avenue
Franklin may refer to:
People
* Franklin (given name)
* Franklin (surname)
* Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class
Places Australia
* Franklin, Tasmania, a township
* Division of Franklin, federal electoral div ...
. He owned few possessions and only one shirt, but was eventually given a position at a large agency and became a Hollywood junior producer.[.] He began moving up in the Hollywood world, eventually founding PRB, a production company, with Mary Pickford
Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
,[ becoming her business partner.] At the same time, amidst all the abundance and glamour of Hollywood, he found himself looking for meaning in different places, including churches.
Priesthood
In 1951 Boyd began studying to become a priest at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) is an Episcopal seminary in Berkeley, California. It one of nine seminaries U.S. Episcopal Church and a member of the Graduate Theological Union. The only Episcopal seminary located in the Far West, ...
in Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
.[.] He graduated in 1954 and was ordained a deacon. In 1955 he continued his studies abroad in England and Switzerland and returned to Los Angeles for ordination as a priest. During 1956 and 1957, Boyd studied further at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
and wrote his first book, ''Crisis in Communication.''[ In 1959 Boyd became Episcopal Chaplain at Colorado State University.][ In the 1960s Boyd became known as "the Espresso Priest" for his religiously themed poetry-reading sessions at the ]Hungry i
The hungry i was a nightclub in San Francisco, California, originally located in the North Beach neighborhood. It played a major role in the history of stand-up comedy in the United States. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold i ...
nightclub in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, at the time of the San Francisco Renaissance
The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watt ...
poetry movement. Boyd recalled in an interview with ''The Lavender effect'' that the ''San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'' once called him " Marlon Brando in a collar," due to his Hollywood connections and attractive appearance.
Activism
Boyd went on to become a minister in the American Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...
, promoting integration and voting rights. He participated as one of the Freedom Riders in 1961. Later that year he became the Episcopal Chaplain at Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
in Detroit. He held a weekly meeting about civil rights, influencing Viola Liuzzo
Viola Fauver Liuzzo (née Gregg; April 11, 1925 – March 25, 1965) was an American civil rights activist. In March 1965, Liuzzo heeded the call of Martin Luther King Jr. and traveled from Detroit, Michigan, to Selma, Alabama, in the wake of the B ...
. Three years later she went to Selma, Alabama, to participate in the voting rights marches organized by SCLC and SNCC
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segreg ...
. She was murdered by the Klan while transporting marchers from Montgomery back to Selma following the successful march ending on March 25.
In 1963 Boyd attended an interfaith conference for racial integration in Chicago. Malcolm X
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...
referred to Boyd at the conference in his 1963 speech, "The Old Negro and the New Negro." Malcolm X said, "Rev. Boyd believes that the conference might have accomplished much good if the speakers had included a white supremacist and a Negro race leader, preferably a top man in the American Black Muslim movement." He quotes Boyd:
Boyd was also active in the anti-Vietnam War movement
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social mov ...
, leading demonstrations and teach-in
A teach-in is similar to a general educational forum on any complicated issue, usually an issue involving current political affairs. The main difference between a teach-in and a seminar is the refusal to limit the discussion to a specific time fr ...
s in protest of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. In 1970, Boyd was among 17 antiwar protesters, which also included Daniel Berrigan
Daniel Joseph Berrigan (May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016) was an American Jesuit priest, anti-war activist, Christian pacifist, playwright, poet, and author.
Berrigan's active protest against the Vietnam War earned him both scorn and admi ...
, who were arrested for attempting to celebrate a "mass for peace" at The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...
.
Later life and works
In 1977 Boyd came out of the closet
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
, becoming one of the first prominent American clergymen to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
. In the 1980s Boyd met Mark Thompson, an author, journalist and activist. Boyd and Thompson were domestic partners for almost 30 years and were married in 2013. Boyd considered his partnership and marriage to Thompson to be one of the most fulfilling aspects of his life. They resided in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.
Boyd served on the Advisory Board of White Crane Institute, and was a frequent contributor to the homosexual wisdom and culture magazine ''White Crane''.
Boyd was the author of over 30 books, including a bestselling collection of prayers, ''Are You Running with Me, Jesus?'' (1965). ''Are You Running With Me, Jesus'' was a great success, and gained Boyd a reasonable amount of public attention and fame, which continued throughout his life. It was re-issued in a 40th-anniversary edition. Until his death he wrote a column for ''The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
.'' He served as a poet/writer in residence for the Diocese of Los Angeles. Boyd died of complications from pneumonia at the age of 91 in Los Angeles on February 27, 2015.
Books
*''Crisis in Communication'' (Doubleday, 1957)
*''Christ and Celebrity Gods'' (Seabury, 1958)
*''Focus: Rethinking the Meaning of Our Evangelism'' (Morehouse-Barlow, 1960)
*''If I Go Down to Hell'' (Morehouse-Barlow, 1962)
*''The Hunger, the Thirst'' (Morehouse-Barlow, 1964)
*''Are You Running with Me, Jesus?'' (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965/40th anniversary edition, 2005), became a bestseller
*''Free to Live, Free to Die'' (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1967)
*''Malcolm Boyd's Book of Days'' (Random House, 1968)
*''The Fantasy Worlds of Peter Stone and Other Fables'' (Harper & Row, 1969)
*''As I Live and Breathe'' (Random House, 1969)
*''My Fellow Americans'' (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970)
*''Human Like Me, Jesus'' (Simon and Schuster, 1971)
*''The Lover'' (Word Books, 1972)
*''The Runner'' (Word Books, 1974)
*''The Alleluia Affair'' (Word Books, 1975)
*''Christian: Its Meanings in an Age of Future Shock'' (Hawthorn, 1975)
*''Am I Running with You, God?'' (Doubleday, 1977)
*''Take Off the Masks'' (Doubleday, 1978; rev. ed. HarperCollins 1993, White Crane Books 2008)
*''Look Back in Joy'' ( Gay Sunshine Press, 1981; rev. ed. Alyson, 1990)
*''Half Laughing, Half Crying'' (St. Martin's Press, 1986)
*''Gay Priest: An Inner Journey'' (St. Martin's Press, 1986)
*''Edges, Boundaries and Connections'' (Broken Moon Press, 1992)
*''Rich with Years: Daily Meditations on Growing Older'' (HarperCollins, 1994)
*''Go Gentle Into That Good Night'' (Genesis Press, 1998)
*''Simple Grace: A Mentor's Guide to Growing Older'' (Westminster John Knox, 2001)
*''Prayers for the Later Years'' (Augsburg, 2002)
*''A Prophet in His Own Land: The Malcolm Boyd Reader'' (edited by Bo Young/ Dan Vera) (White Crane Books, 2008)
Edited by Malcolm Boyd
*''On the Battle Lines: A Manifesto for Our Times'' (Morehouse-Barlow, 1964)
*''The Underground Church'' (Sheed & Ward, 1968)
*''When in the Course of Human Events'' (with Paul Conrad, Sheed & Ward, 1973)
*''Amazing Grace: Stories of Lesbian and Gay Faith'' (with Nancy L. Wilson, Crossing Press, 1991)
*''Race & Prayer: Collected Voices, Many Dreams'' (w/Chester Talton, Morehouse, 2003)
*''In Times Like These…How We Pray'' (with J. Jon Bruno, Seabury, 2005)
References
External links
* ; includes a decade-by-decade autobiography.
* , by Mark Thompson, 19 March 1997.
*
* (of which Boyd was rector).
* Interview with Malcolm Boy
The Lavender Effect Oral History Project
FBI Docs
Malcolm Boyd FBI File
Interview with Malcolm Boyd by Stephen McKiernan
Binghamton University Libraries Center for the Study of the 1960s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Malcolm
1923 births
2015 deaths
American Episcopal priests
American religious leaders
American gay writers
LGBT Anglican clergy
Writers from Buffalo, New York
Lambda Literary Award winners
Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
Writers from Los Angeles
20th-century American writers
21st-century American writers
Deaths from pneumonia in California
Freedom Riders
Activists from Buffalo, New York
Activists from California
People from Silver Lake, Los Angeles
Film producers from California
LGBT people from New York (state)
20th-century American male writers
Film producers from New York (state)
20th-century American Episcopalians