From Homeless to Harvard

By Keith Boykin, in sexuality
Friday, June 8 2007, 11:53AM

When he was just in sixth grade, Leoule Goshu got a stern warning. His father pulled him aside one day and delivered the message: If you become a homosexual, I will kill you. By the time he entered college years later, violence at home forced Goshu to leave his family and move to a shelter for homeless youth in Seattle.

But he was not an ordinary resident. He quickly took a role as a leader in group sessions, one of the shelter's organizers recalls. "We don't get many people who are already in college," she said. "He mentored other young people and helped them find their voice and feel OK about their situation."

Goshu's spirit of activism seems to have shaped his entire college experience. A receptionist who answered the phone at the school this morning described him as a "very special young man." He's been an activist on campus, ultimately becoming director of the campus GBLT Commission.

Goshu has traveled the world to get involved in various causes. He spent 4 months in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and spent time working in Cape Town, South Africa while in college. Finally, on Saturday, he graduated from the University of Washington with a double-major in communications and comparative history of ideas. Now at 23, the openly gay Goshu is on his way to graduate school at Harvard, where he plans to study public policy and urban planning next fall.

When asked why he wanted to pursue public policy and urban planning, Goshu said, "I want homeless people, gays and immigrants to represent themselves and not have elite people representing them. I really want to change minds."

That's a refreshing perspective. It's great to find young people who are taking an active role in their communities. It's even more impressive when those people have overcome difficult hardships and struggles of their own. It's especially encouraging when those people see the interconnection of various causes that go beyond a single issue of identity.

In 2005 Goshu was named a "Future Gay Hero" by The Advocate news magazine. They picked a quote to go along with the story on him. "I think it's really important that people acknowledge the creative juices of young people, because they are a part of the movement and they are leaders. If you don't see that, you're not looking hard enough," he said.

Every Friday on the big network news broadcasts they like to pick a person of the week. Usually the people are admirable and ordinary citizens who are doing good and making a difference in their own communities. I don't know who NBC is picking this week, but I would recommend they profile someone like Leoule Goshu. In my book, he's the person of the week.

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