Posted on 09/14/2008 4:07:50 PM PDT by SJackson
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 c ontroversial 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 with Obama since his days at Occidental and he has no involvement in the campaign. But from a strategic and pragmatic standpoint, Goldyn said he believes Obama is handling the issue of same-sex marriage correctly.
“It’s very hard to put a whole coalition together, and you have to figure out a way to negotiate and navigate where he is clearly supportive of gay rights, but he cannot come out up front and say that he’s in favor of marriage, because the country, I don’t think, may be ready for that in an election,” he said. “And I don’t have a problem with that.”
CAREER SWITCH
Goldyn, now a physician, left Occidental in 1981 after the college declined to give him a tenured position.
He said he believes his status as an openly gay professor who, among other things, had designed a course on sexual politics that was seen as radical in a conservative-leaning school, prompted school officials to steer clear of giving him a permanent teaching post.
At that time, Goldyn said, the job market for college professors was tight, making it difficult for him to find a teaching post at another university, despite the fact that he had an advanced academic degree in political science from California’s Stanford University.
After taking several temporary teaching and non-teaching jobs, Goldyn switched gears by taking several science courses at a Los Angeles college, intending to eventually enroll in medical school. A short time later, he was accepted into Tufts University School of Medicine, from which he received his medical degree in 1988.
Goldyn now practices internal medicine and has a specialty in HIV. He serves as medical director of the Mendocino Coastal Clinics in Mendocino County, located along the California coast about 150 miles north of San Francisco.
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.
[As] 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. [....]
"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.
"It's very hard to put a whole coalition together, and you have to figure out a way to negotiate and navigate where he is clearly supportive of gay rights, but he cannot come out up front and say that he's in favor of marriage, because the country, I don't think, may be ready for that in an election," he said. "And I don't have a problem with that."
Hmmmm... Rev. Wright also said that Obama would have to say deceitful things to be elected.
And Goldyn, like Wright and the rest of the America hating lefties, ends up living in mansion. His is near the coast in Mendocino. DEEP in the heart of elitism.
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 .....
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More and more info COMING OUT about more and more homosexuality and cocaine use by obambi.....this is being done to pave the way for the big story, the Larry Sinclair Story to break out.
Is Larry Sinclair still under arrest in Deleware where Joe Biden’s son is AG?
His first, longtime mentor was Frank Marshall Davis, n bisexual pedophile. Then this clown. Paging Larry Sinclair
How many other “gay mentors” does Obama have? And what did they “mentor” him in?
Gee, another gay mentor for Barry!
I can hardly wait for the breathless report from Charlie Gibson following the ABC investigation! Unless one of the other Democrat news organizations gets the scoop first!
Sinclair was arrested immediately after his Press Conference
Sent to Delaware where yes the AG is Biden’s son
Then Sinclair’s SSI was STOPPED
Then Sinclair’s lawyer, reniged on his agreement to represent him the night before.
Then Biden was picked up as VP by obambi
(Now we know why Hillary wasn’t chosen, she didn’t have the blackMALE goods)
and SOON AFTERWARDS, CHARGES against Sinclair WERE DROPPED! By Delaware.
Coincidence or Coverup attempt by the obambi-biden gestapo.
http://larrysinclair-0926.blogspot.com/
I don’t know about you, but this sure makes me want to pull the, er, lever, for Obama!
I read ...somewhere... that Wright is also on the “down low” with men at his church.
I don’t get this. If Obama is or was gay or bi, why haven’t we heard about it more?
If Hillary knows about this — which I have suspected all along, we will hear about it. And she’ll blame the GOP for spreading it.
Gee, you could say that Obama was “reared” by this guy.
Lawrence Goldyn was behind Obama all the way...
The first thing I thought of...
This just keeps getting better and better!!! Unbelievable!!!!
Since the mid-1960's, Occidental has hardly been a "conservative-leaning school." During late 1960's and early 1970's, when I attended, it was a hotbed of anti-Vietnam War activism. In a poll taken of students just before teh 1972 election, 65 percent supported George McGovern for president. When I entered my dorm on election night that year after a late class, the students were sitting around the television in stunned silence overwhelmed by the magnitude of McGovern's defeat.
Things don't seem to have changed much. For example, although it was founded by Presbyterians in 1887, not long ago, Occidental removed the cross from its chapel as being offensive to non-Christians.
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