Malcolm Boyd was born in Buffalo, New York on June 8, 1923. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 1944. In 1946, he joined Republic Pictures as a publicist and then became a producer. He and film stars Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers formed a television production company in 1949. He became the first president of Hollywood's Television Producers' Association. In 1951, he left Hollywood to study for the Episcopal ministry.
He received a bachelor's degree from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in 1954, was ordained in Los Angeles in 1955, and received a master's degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1956. He was a champion of civil rights and an opponent of the Vietnam War. He helped register black voters in Mississippi and Alabama and was with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his Alabama march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. He also wrote plays on racial injustice that were produced in New York and on television. He later led demonstrations, teach-ins, and other protests against American involvement in the Vietnam War.
In 1976, he came out as gay. He went on to fight for the ordination of women and homosexuals in the Episcopal Church, a goal that was achieved, and for programs to help growing legions of homeless people and AIDS victims.
During his lifetime, he wrote more than two dozen books that explored human rights, religion, sexuality, and other subjects. His books include Are You Running with Me, Jesus?, The Lover, Take off the Masks, and Gay Priest: An Inner Journey. He was a writer-in-residence at the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and wrote an online column for The Huffington Post. He died from complications of pneumonia on February 27, 2015 at the age of 91.
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