Spend a few minutes with the Rev. Canon Malcolm Boyd and you know that he has kissed the face of God—and God kissed back. Now he will feel God’s full embrace. Boyd died around noon on Feb. 27 from severe complications with pneumonia, according to author/therapist Mark Thompson, Boyd’s spiritual companion and his earthly husband (who took the portrait above). He was 91.
“Malcolm lives on in our hearts and minds through the wise words and courageous example he has shared with us through the years,” said the Rt. Rev. Bishop Jon Bruno, bishop of the six-county Diocese of Los Angeles. “We pray in thanksgiving for Malcolm’s life and ministry, for his tireless advocacy for civil rights, and for his faithful devotion to Jesus who now welcomes him to eternal life and comforts us in our sense of loss.”
Bruno was Boyd’s dear friend and boss at the Los Angeles Cathedral Center of St. Paul (pictured with Boyd above) where Bruno officiated at the blessing of Boyd and Thompson on May 16, 2004—the 20th anniversary of their partnership. The blessing caused as much of an uproar within the Anglican Church as the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson.
In September 2008, Thompson unveiled 14 black and white images of gay liberation pioneers in his exhibit Fellow Travelers: Liberation Portraits, which were accompanied by commentary on each icon. Thompson’s portrait of Boyd was taken in Hawaii in 1989 as Boyd sat on a beach made of lava near a volcano that decided to “blow” once again. Thompson said in a video accompanying the exhibit that within hours of when the photo was taken, “fiery trails of magna were dashing to the sea, sending up furious clouds of steam and smoke,” providing a “perfect back drop for this famous disturber of the peace.”
Thompson synopsized Boyd’s life:
Born into a wealthy Manhattan family who lost it all during the Great Depression, Malcolm has picked a path through his life uniquely his own. During Hollywood’s Golden Age, he worked as a producer and business partner of Silent Screen icon, Mary Pickford. The glamour was dropped in 1951, however, when he decided to become an Episcopal priest. Years of hard work and activism followed. Marching with Martin Luther King in Selma and getting arrested in the Pentagon for conducting an anti-war peace mass are among his many badges of honor. He is probably best known as the author of 30 books, including the internationally acclaimed “Are You Running With Me, Jesus?”
He came out as a gay man in 1977 and was shunned by all but a few. Time has healed many old wounds, further salved by a long-time relationship during the past 21 years. Malcolm is many things. But most important—he is the man I love.
Indeed, as much as Boyd has been an icon for his early poetic and protest work in the civil rights movement, his anti-war stance and his early outspoken advocacy for people with AIDS and LGBT equality, he and Thompson are also legends in the LGBT community for their enduring intergenerational gay relationship, a love story that has lasted over three decades, long before the concept of marriage equality was even considered a possibility.