Malcolm Boyd (June 8, 1923 – February 27, 2015) was an American Episcopal priest and author. He was active in the 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. 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. 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. He owned few possessions and only one shirt, He began moving up in the Hollywood world, eventually founding PRB, a production company, with Mary Pickford, He graduated in 1954 and was ordained a deacon.

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. 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. becoming one of the first prominent American clergymen to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality. Boyd considered his partnership and marriage to Thompson to be one of the most fulfilling aspects of his life. The book earned Boyd a degree of public attention, He served as a poet/writer in residence for the Diocese of Los Angeles.

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

  • ; includes a decade-by-decade autobiography.
  • , by Mark Thompson, 19 March 1997.
  • (of which Boyd was rector).
  • Interview with Malcolm Boyd 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