I'm Eric Marcus and this is Making Gay History.

I first met writer Randy Boyd in print in an essay he wrote for what was then called

The Harvard Gain Lesbian Review.

He was the year 2000 and I was working on an updated edition of My Making Gay History

book and searching for new perspectives to add to the book's original 1992 edition.

Randy's perspective was a bracing one.

In his essay he outlined what he called his gay agenda, quote,

to be myself wherever I go, no matter whom I'm around, whatever the circumstances,

lock, stock, and barrel, all of me, including the parts that are gay and HIV positive.

That radical openness was part of Randy's mission in his life and work alike to explode

stereotypes of all kinds about gay people, about black people, about people living with HIV.

As a strapping six foot four two hundred pound black man, wherever he went, Randy was

assumed to be an athlete and straight.

So when it came to combating lazy stereotyping, he got a lot of practice.

Randy was born in Indianapolis in 1962, the youngest of four children.

He moved to Los Angeles to attend college, first at USC and then UCLA where he studied sociology.

After graduating, he worked for several years in broadcast promotion in Hollywood.

And by the time I interviewed Randy, he was a full-time writer living in San Diego.

So here's the scene, I arrive at Randy's tidy garden apartment just a few blocks from

the ocean and in the flight path of San Diego's main airport.

Randy and his dog Boomer, a lab mix, greet me at the door.

It's easy to imagine that Randy's height, build, and demeanor lead people to believe

...