Keith Boykin

Boykin was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended Countryside High School in Clearwater, Florida, before graduating from Dartmouth College.

After leaving Dartmouth in 1987, Boykin spent a year and a half working for Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign and then entered Harvard Law School, where he was a leader on the campus diversity movement and general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. He received his J.D. from Harvard in 1992 and then joined the Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign in Little Rock, Arkansas. After Clinton's election, Boykin became a Special Assistant to the President and Director of Specialty Media. Once the highest-ranking gay person in the Clinton White House, Boykin helped organize and participated in the nation's first meeting between gay and lesbian leaders and a U.S. President.

Boykin left the White House to write his first book, One More River to Cross, published in 1996. He released his second book, Respecting the Soul, in 1999.

In 1997, Clinton appointed Boykin to the U.S. presidential trade delegation to Zimbabwe, along with Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King and Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater. From 1999 to 2001, Boykin taught political science at American University in Washington, D.C. Boykin became a political commentator for CNN on January 3, 2017.

Boykin appeared on the Showtime television series American Candidate and has appeared on VH1, BET, CNN, Fox News, NPR, and numerous other television and radio programs, including The Montel Williams Show, The Dennis Miller Show, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Tony Brown's Journal and Anderson Cooper 360°. He has been featured on the cover of several publications including A&U, Out and The Advocate, and he was selected as one of Out's 100 Most Intriguing People of 2004. He has also been featured or quoted in articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, VIBE, and Jet.

He has written for The Village Voice, the San Francisco Chronicle, the St. Petersburg Times, The Advocate, Black Issues Book Review, and The Crisis. His syndicated column appeared in several newspapers across the country, including The New York Blade, the Washington Blade, Southern Voice, and Houston Voice.

Since 2008, Boykin has made regular appearances on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and BET. He appeared on CNBC for coverage and analysis of the 2008 presidential debates and vice presidential debate. He also covered the 2008 Democratic National Convention for BET from the floor of the Pepsi Center and Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.

In February 2006, Boykin became a co-host of the TV series My Two Cents on the BET J channel, a part of BET Networks. In January 2007, he began making regular appearances as a commentator on CNN and he also appeared on Judge Hatchett.

From December 2003 until April 2006, Boykin served as president of the board of the National Black Justice Coalition, a Washington-based civil rights organization dedicated to fighting racism and homophobia, which he co-founded.

• "One More River to Cross: Black & Gay in America", Anchor Publisher, 1996, ISBN 978-0385479837
• "Respecting the Soul:Daily Reflections for Black Lesbians and Gays", Avon Books, April 1, 1999, ISBN 0380800217
• "Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America", Carroll & Graf, December 13, 2004, ISBN 0786714344[3]
• "For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Still Not Enough", Magnus Books, August 28, 2012, ISBN 1936833158

• Broadcast journalism
• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of self-identified LGBTQ New Yorkers
• New Yorkers in journalism

• Official website
• Keith Boykin at IMDb
• List of notable Dartmouth alumni
• Dartmouth College Alums for Social Change