As a teenager in Atlanta in the 1960s, he was inspired by Martin Luther King to get involved in the civil rights movement, and in 1978 he switched to gay activism due to Anita Bryant’s Save Our Children campaign
Also from wikipedia that he was a Professor of Anthropology, History, and Gender Studies, at the University of Southern California. And that he is one of the pioneers in the field of Queer studies, with a long background in human rights activism.
I guess he was doing post-doctorate research with those boys overseas.