Keith Boykin

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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

From 1999 to 2001, Boykin taught political science as an adjunct professor at American University in Washington, D.C.

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.

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invited Boykin to speak at the tenth-anniversary commemoration of the Million Man March, but the invitation was withdrawn shortly before the event after one of its organizers, the Reverend Willie F. Wilson, objected to his participation.

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.

Boykin served as a contributor to CNBC from 2008 to 2016 and to CNN from January 2017 to January 2022.

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. His syndicated column appeared in newspapers including The New York Blade, the Washington Blade, Southern Voice, and the Houston Voice. 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.

Boykin publicly came out as gay in his 1996 book One More River to Cross: Black & Gay in America. In 2006, he won a gold medal in wrestling at the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago. He first met his biological father, John Dickerson, a chemist, in 2015.

In 2022, Boykin moved to Los Angeles while keeping a residence in New York City. He has two godsons whom he considers his sons. For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Still Not Enough (editor). Magnus Books. 2012. . Race Against Time: The Politics of a Darkening America. Bold Type Books. 2021. . Quitting: Why I Left My Job to Live a Life of Freedom. Scribd Originals. 2022. . Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race?. Bold Type Books. 2024. .