Last night, activist and author Keith Boykin gave a speech at Central State University about LGBT issues. Unfortunately, like many HBCUS, CSU’s homophobic culture made it a long night. Below is an excerpt of his reflections on the speech. The rest can be found through the link to his site at the end of the article.

The Worst Speech of My Life
By Keith Boykin

Last night was an eye opener. In the 10 years I’ve been giving public speeches, I’ve never faced a crowd like the one in Wilberforce, Ohio Tuesday evening. I often talk about sensitive issues in my speeches, so I don’t expect everyone to agree with me when I take to the podium. Although most of my speeches go off smoothly, there have been a few times when things went wrong. I’ve been protested, challenged and questioned several times before. I’ve even seen a few people get up and walk out in the middle of a speech. But I have never spoken to any audience where dozens of students actually booed and jeered and hissed. Until last night.

Last night I was a keynote speaker for the annual convocation at Central State University in Ohio. Central State is a historically black college with a long and proud tradition of educating African Americans. So I was really looking forward to speaking to an educated black audience about homophobia in the black community. I was also looking forward to joining my friend and colleague Staceyann Chin, who was the other keynote speaker for the event. But my optimism quickly turned to disappointment only moments after I walked on stage.

Welcome to Central State

With 400 students in the auditorium, I started my speech by greeting everyone. “Good evening Central State,” I said. From there, I noticed that half of the audience started paying attention. But a number of the students continued to talk amongst themselves in the audience. Some students fidgeted in their seats. A few even turned away from the stage and engaged in conversations with their peers. I knew then it would be a tough audience, but I’ve had tough audiences before and I can usually figure out a way to win them over.

I began my remarks by talking about how happy I was to be at Central State, and I reflected briefly on the importance of my own educational experience in shaping my identity. That seemed to get a few more students to pay attention, but I noticed that dozens of students were still not engaged at all. Many of them were still talking. And it was obvious.

I’ve spoken to several black college audiences before, so I knew that the speech would have to be a little different from my speeches at mostly white colleges. Black students tend to engage in more “call-and-response” behavior and are often more interactive with the speaker. I usually like that. I don’t like speaking to a group of empty faces with blank stares. I like to see the heads nod in agreement or even shake in disapproval. And I like to hear the soft musical sounds that black people make when we listen to a speaker. But last night was a little different.

Coming Out In the Black Community

Five minutes into my 20 minute speech, I started telling my “coming out” story. I talked about calling my mother on the phone and being confronted by my religious grandmother. But almost as soon as I mentioned the word “gay,” several people in the audience turned hostile. About a dozen students stood up and walked out. That was the first major warning sign.

For the rest of the story, click here.