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White House, Rainbow Advisor: Keith Boykin's Activism in the Clinton Presidency and Beyond


Keith Boykin is an American broadcast journalist, author, and political commentator. He served as the editor of The Daily Voice, he contributed to CNBC, was a political commentator for CNN, and was a co-host for the talk show My Two Cents on BET TV. 


Boykin was born in St. Louis, MO, and attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1987. Boykin then spent a year and a half on the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign before entering Harvard Law School, where he led the campus diversity movement and served as the general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. 


After graduating from Harvard in 1992, he joined Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign and became a Special Assistant to the President and Director of Speciality Media after Clinton’s election. He was considered to be the highest-ranking openly gay person in Clinton’s White House. With this high ranking position, Boykin helped organize and participated in the nation’s first meeting between gay and lesbian leaders and the President of the United States. 


In 1997, Boykin was appointed to the US Presidential trade delegation to Zimbabwe. He later began teaching political science at American University in Washington DC. 


In December 2003, Boykin began serving as president of the board for the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil-rights organization he helped found, based in Washington. The organization is dedicated to fighting racism and homophobia. 


In 2017, Boykin became a CNN contributor.

Boykin has attended various Black Lives Matter protests, including recently, and was arrested at a Black Lives Matter protest on June 1, 2020. 


He continues to be an activist for both the Black community and the LGBT community.


Written By: Zach Hover


Sources: Wikipedia, GLAD.org, CNN

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