Malcolm Boyd

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For the Australian Olympic athlete, see Malcolm Boyd (athlete).

Malcolm Boyd
Mark Thompson

Malcolm Boyd (June 8, 1923 – February 27, 2015) was an American

Civil Rights Movement as one of the Freedom Riders in 1961 and as a minister. Boyd was also active in the anti-Vietnam War movement
. 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.[1] 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, 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.[2][3][4] Boyd was raised as an Episcopalian (his maternal grandfather was Jewish).[5][6]

In the early 1930s, Boyd's parents divorced; his mother retained custody of him.[7] Boyd moved with his mother to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and then to Denver.[7] During his time in college, despite early spiritual interests, he decided he was an atheist.[7] In the 1940s, Boyd moved to Hollywood and rented a room in $15.00 a week boarding house on Franklin Avenue.[8] He owned few possessions and only one shirt,[8] but was eventually given a position at a large agency and became a Hollywood junior producer.[9] He began moving up in the Hollywood world, eventually founding PRB, a production company, with Mary Pickford,[9] becoming her business partner.[8] At the same time, amidst all the abundance and glamour of Hollywood, he found himself looking for meaning in different places, including churches.[9]

Priesthood

In 1951, Boyd began studying to become a priest at the

Hungry i nightclub in San Francisco, at the time of the San Francisco Renaissance poetry movement. Boyd recalled in an interview with The Lavender effect that the San Francisco Chronicle once called him "Marlon Brando in a collar," due to his Hollywood connections and attractive appearance.[8]

Activism

Boyd went on to become a minister in the

SNCC. 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 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:

A debate between them (meaning this white racist and a Black Muslim) would undoubtedly be bitter, but it would accomplish one thing: it would get some of the real issues out into the open. In this conference we have not done that. The money spent to bring these people here has been wasted. We have done nothing to solve the race problem either in our churches or in our communities.[11]

Boyd was also active in the

anti-Vietnam War movement, leading demonstrations and teach-ins in protest of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.[12] In 1970, Boyd was among 17 antiwar protesters, which also included Daniel Berrigan, who were arrested for attempting to celebrate a "mass for peace" at The Pentagon.[12]

Later life and works

In 1977, Boyd

Mark Thompson, an author, journalist and activist. Boyd and Thompson were domestic partners for almost 30 years and were married in 2013.[14][15] Boyd considered his partnership and marriage to Thompson to be one of the most fulfilling aspects of his life.[8] 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,

The Huffington Post.[17] He served as a poet/writer in residence for the Diocese of Los Angeles.[1] Boyd died of complications from pneumonia at the age of 91 in Los Angeles on February 27, 2015.[18]

Books

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

  1. ^ a b Pat McCaughan, "Malcolm Boyd at 90: Still writing, still ‘running,’ still inspiring" Archived March 17, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Episcopal News Service, 7 June 2013, accessed 11 January 2015
  2. ISBN 9780941028783{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )    .
  3. ^ Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University[permanent dead link].
  4. ^ "Biography", Malcolm Boyd, archived from the original on May 6, 2021, retrieved February 28, 2012
  5. ^ Boyd, Malcolm (February 27, 2012), "My Jewish grandfather", Huffington Post.
  6. ISBN 978-0979963438
    . Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  7. ^ a b c "Thirties", Malcolm Boyd, archived from the original on April 18, 2017, retrieved March 4, 2012
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Rev. Malcolm Boyd (1923-2015)". The Lavender Effect. September 14, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  9. ^ a b c "Forties", Malcolm Boyd, archived from the original on March 4, 2016, retrieved March 4, 2012.
  10. ^ a b c d e "Fifties", Malcolm Boyd, archived from the original on March 25, 2016, retrieved March 4, 2012.
  11. ^ X, Malcolm (1971), Karim, Benjamin (ed.), The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches, New York: Arcade, pp. 94, 95.
  12. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  13. ISSN 0882-7729
    . Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  14. ^ "Silver Lake Home of Malcolm Boyd, Gay Activist, Author & Priest is Available – The Silver Lake News". thesilverlakenews.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  15. ^ "Eighties", Malcolm Boyd, archived from the original on March 25, 2016, retrieved March 4, 2012.
  16. ^ "Religion Book Review: Edges, Boundaries, and Connections by Malcolm Boyd". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  17. Huffington Post
    .
  18. ^ Rourke, Mary (February 27, 2015). "Malcolm Boyd dies at 91; Episcopal priest took prayer to the streets". Los Angeles Times.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malcolm_Boyd&oldid=1179806200"