David DeBoskey

This SDSU Professor Believes LGBTQ+ Rights Should Be Firmly Protected With No Strings Attached

By Suzanne Finch

David DeBoskey

While attending high school in Central New Jersey, David DeBoskey was a bright and active student, taking part in college preparatory classes, track and cross country. However, it was his participation as the main character in a high school musical that helped him to face his own reality. “I was in a school show where I played the lead in Carnival,” said DeBoskey, now a professor at the Charles W. Lamden School of Accountancy at SDSU’s Fowler College of Business. “The character, Paul Berthalet, is a puppeteer and handicapped former dancer who meets Lili and secretly falls in love with her. I also did the voices for Paul’s puppets who spoke about how he really felt about Lili. Paul was basically in the closet regarding his feelings for Lili, however, he expressed himself through the puppets. During the production, I realized that I had a lot in common with Paul, except he liked women and I had the same feelings for men.” 

A Recurring Role with Different Results
DeBoskey experienced a change of scenery after graduating high school and attending college in Pennsylvania in 1983. His new surroundings initiated some introspection and he “became comfortable in my own skin.” “Ironically, I was once again cast as Paul Berthalet in the university’s community theatre and, this time, I had a better understanding of the role,” he said. “It was around this time I began dating guys and I was much happier. It allowed me to internalize the role more deeply and I realized that I didn’t want to live like Paul who was physically and emotionally handicapped. The experience was the turning point in accepting myself.” 

Back In The Closet
Unfortunately, the freedom to be himself was short-lived after he earned his bachelor’s degree and accepted a position in a major accounting firm. “It was not possible to be yourself, and in many ways, I was forced into the closet again while pursuing a career I really loved,” said DeBoskey. 

For nearly a decade, DeBoskey kept his personal life out-of-view while climbing the corporate ladder until he was named as an executive in a publicly held healthcare company in the New York City area. “I had finally had enough and I came of out of the closet as one of the first openly gay top executives in the company,” he said. 

However, while he was more comfortable in his personal life, DeBoskey still felt discrimination in his professional life when he was passed over for a promotion. “I decided to fight back and I filed a lawsuit,” he said. “Winning the case liberated me and it made me realize that if you don’t stand up for yourself no one else will. After that, I never looked back as I left Corporate America shortly afterward to earn my Ph.D. and become an academic.” 

SDSU’s Support of the LGBTQ+ Community is Genuine
By the time DeBoskey earned his Ph.D.in 2006, he had already met the love of his life (and now, husband), Marco, on an internet chat room eight years before. Marco, who is genderqueer and Hispanic, worked as an attorney at the time and he faced his own share of workplace issues. The two of them were able to support each other during some the rough times and eventually, they (along with DeBoskey’s mother) decided to move across the country to San Diego where DeBoskey became a professor at SDSU. “I think SDSU is one of the most forward-looking universities with regard to LGBTQ+ activism and support,” he said. “The university has a zero-tolerance policy against anti-gay rhetoric and discrimination and I feel very comfortable at SDSU and being openly gay and out. I often try to help students who may be struggling with their unique identities and I share my experience and guidance.” 

DeBoskey has also pointed students to the SDSU Pride Center who he said has outstanding resources and a positive impact on the university’s LGBTQ+ community. Still, he said, he would like to see additional upward mobility and more opportunities for SDSU’s LGBTQ+ faculty and staff. “I think that would have a big impact on the university’s future progress,” he said. 

Rising Challenges
DeBoskey said he believes that gay rights have come a long way in a short period of time, with same-sex marriage being the “biggest win.” “But it is vulnerable and at-risk from the current activist U.S. Supreme Court,” said DeBoskey who attended the same high school as conservative Justice Samuel Alito. “It scares me to think that LGBTQ+ citizens might be exploited once again from a series of legal challenges percolating in various hate groups and think tanks.”

The violence experienced by those in the LGBTQ+ community has also been a concern for DeBoskey. “Prosecutors have to aggressively come after violators and let the world know that enough is enough,” he said. “While this might be idealistic, I long for a day when the puppets would help me sing a new song: We Are Here, We Are Queer, and Our Message is Clear!” 

Celebrating with the Family
While the days of hiding behind puppets are behind him, the Pride Movement means more to him than a series of criminal and legal challenges. For DeBoskey, the movement is a way of celebrating the men and women who fought to secure gay rights and when LGBTQ+ people could celebrate their sexual orientation regardless of what it might be. He and his husband also celebrate Pride Month with their two sets of twins (two boys and two girls), who “are comfortable having two gay dads and think the Pride Celebration is really cool!”