The man who almost became US Vice President
In 1980 a gay activist wanted to become US Vice President, and gave one of the strongest speeches of the Democratic convention.
On 14 August 1980, Melvin "Mel" Boozer was officially nominated for the office of Vice President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention in New York. He thus became the first openly gay person whose name was put forward for this office at a nominating convention of a major US party.
Boozer, born in Washington, D.C., in 1945, had earned his doctorate at Yale and was a professor of sociology. From 1979 he was the first Black person to chair the Gay Activists Alliance of Washington. For the convention, the gay and lesbian group of delegates collected around 400 signatures, enough to nominate Boozer officially and so secure him speaking time in the hall.
Before the vote began, Boozer withdrew his candidacy in favour of the incumbent Vice President Walter Mondale, but gave a speech to the delegates that was broadcast live on television. In it he drew a direct comparison between racism and homophobia: "I know what it means to be called a nigger, and I know what it means to be called a faggot, and I understand the differences in the marrow of my bones. And I can sum up that difference in one word: none."
Many delegates applauded the speech, though there were also some boos.
Boozer remained politically active, among other things as a lobbyist for the National Gay Task Force and as a co-founder of a Democratic club for Black lesbians and gay men in Washington. He died of an AIDS-related illness on 6 March 1987 at the age of 41. In 2019 he was posthumously inducted into the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor.