Lawrence Goldyn, who is gay, was among Barack Obama’s professors at Occidental College in Los Angeles. The presidential hopeful has said that Goldyn had a ‘strong influence’ on his understanding and perception of gay people and gay rights. (Photo courtesy Goldyn)
As an 18-year-old undergraduate student at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Barack Obama was among a coterie of students who spoke regularly with Lawrence Goldyn.
Goldyn, an openly gay political science professor who served as a mentor and friend to many of the school’s minority students, said Obama joined him and other students in discussions about social and political issues at a time when Obama was beginning to develop an interest in politics and civil rights causes.
“He was one of those usual, straight young men who was secure enough in his sexuality that he was not fearful of being associated with me, whether that involved taking a class or just talking socially,” said Goldyn, who also served as faculty adviser for Occidental’s gay student group.
‘SOCIAL COURAGE’
Goldyn, who was at Occidental from 1978 to 1981, has since changed professions and now works as a physician and medical director for a clinic in Northern California, with a specialty in HIV medicine.
He agreed to this interview after his interaction with Obama during their years at Occidental after Obama told the Advocate, in an April interview, that Goldyn had a “strong influence” in his understanding and perception of gay people and gay rights.
“He was a wonderful guy,” Obama said of Goldyn in that interview. “He was the first openly gay professor that I had ever come into contact with, or openly gay person of authority that I had come in contact with.
“He wasn’t proselytizing all the time, but just his comfort in his own skin and the friendship we developed helped to educate me on a number of these issues.”
Goldyn told Southern Voice that he believes he first met Obama when the now Democratic presidential nominee took a course on European politics from him in 1979 or 1980.
At the time, Goldyn was considered a controversial figure at Occidental for advocating gay liberation. But Goldyn said he became a mentor to gay students during a period when academic institutions had few positive role models for gay men and lesbians.
His reputation for holding out-of-class discussions with students attracted a number of straight students, Goldyn said. He noted that many of those students who gravitated toward him were older black and Latino students who were interested in his strong views on social issues and racial politics.
Goldyn said Obama stood out, though, by participating in the discussions as a freshman or sophomore.
“He was younger, and coming to a somewhat elite, private college … I am sure he felt like a fish out of water, and he had every reason to feel insecure about himself in a place like that,” Goldyn said.
In a memoir he published in 1994, Obama describes himself as an alienated youth when he arrived at Occidental. He says in the memoir that he occasionally got high on marijuana and cocaine, and that he was more interested in basketball than political discussions.
But the New York Times reported in February 2008 that several of Obama’s fellow Occidental students saw the young Obama grow increasingly interested in politics, particularly in his sophomore year.
Obama left Occidental during his junior year to enroll in Columbia University in New York, where he received his undergraduate degree. He later graduated from Harvard University Law School before winning election to the Illinois State Senate and then his seat in the U.S. Senate.
In the New York Times story and a recently aired CNN documentary about Obama’s life, people who knew Obama said they sensed a transformation in his outlook on life toward the end of his enrollment at Occidental and his years at Columbia.
“He wasn’t a very serious student yet,” Goldyn said about Obama when the student arrived at Occidental. “So I felt good that I contributed to him sort of getting it together and focusing on what he wanted to do.
“He was remarkable in that he was not intimidated by a publicly gay figure and, in fact, was interested in learning from me, whether formally or informally. That required an extraordinary kind of confidence in an 18 or 19 year old — the kind that comes from somewhere deep inside, that was still finding its way into his adult personality.
“He demonstrated a kind of social courage, which has served him well and helped get him where he is today,” said Goldyn, who described himself as a strong supporter of Obama’s presidential campaign.
In discussing the campaign, Goldyn said that unlike some gay activists, he doesn’t fault Obama for supporting civil unions for same-sex couples rather than equal marriage rights.
Goldyn noted that he has not spoken ...
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