The health and equity advocate also shares her thoughts on the wave of anti-transgender legislation and violence
For more than 40 years, the Human Rights Campaign has been fighting for LGBTQ+ equality in the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the advocacy organization boasts more than 3 million members and supporters, making it the largest LGBTQ+ lobbying and advocacy group in the nation. Even those who haven’t heard of HRC have likely seen stickers bearing its iconic logo adhered to car bumpers around Portland — a bright yellow equality symbol (an equal sign) inside a dark blue square.
The Human Rights Campaign was at the forefront of the fight for marriage equality, has long promoted HIV and AIDS advocacy and combated hate crimes and discrimination with legislation.
“See each other. Save trans lives.” is a campaign collaboration between the Human Rights Campaign and WarnerMedia that seeks to break anti-trans stigma through storytelling about the trans community. The campaign is urging support for the Equality Act, an executive order signed by President Joe Biden that the Senate must pass in order to make permanent.
As the director of community engagement for Human Rights Campaign’s Transgender Justice Initiative, Tori Cooper works to bring awareness to anti-trans violence and economic empowerment to members of the trans community. She has earned many awards for her advocacy work for trans people and people living with HIV/AIDS, and has more than 30 years experience in HIV/AIDS services. Her work is also featured in “Silent Epidemic,” a documentary in which she talks about the trans community and HIV in the South.
Cooper recently spoke with Street Roots on the phone about the status of trans rights and activism in America.
Emily Green: The Human Rights Campaign has been tracking fatal violence against transgender and gender nonconforming people since 2015. The number killed in 2020 was the highest count yet at 44, and this year appears to be on pace to break that record. Is your organization getting better at tracking these murders or do you see that violence against these communities is increasing?
Tori Cooper: I think it’s a combination of things, including those two things. What we are seeing is — not just HRC — but all organizations and all entities that are tracking trans deaths are much more based in community than we were before. So there’s a lot more community input on making sure that folks’ true identities are being shared publicly and in the community when someone has been killed.
For instance, one of the things that I’m so proud of at HRC that we do, is we tell stories accurately and not just “truthfully.”
The difference between truth and accuracy, is that it’s what’s on the ID that’s often reported. If a person hasn’t had their gender marker changed, and the news or media reports “man killed,” that’s one thing. But accuracy means making sure that if a transgender woman’s gender marker hasn’t been changed, but she lives and identifies as a woman, that we’re accurately telling who she was. And that’s something that didn’t always occur before.
So it’s a joint effort between community leaders and organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, even by police and media, and reporters all across the country. And then adding on to that: violence. We have seen an increased level of violence at all levels. I think, in the last seven days, this country has experienced 10 mass shootings — that’s unacceptable. And we came out of four years of an administration — I’m not going to get political — where the culmination of the four years was an insurrection at the Capitol. And we are seeing a big increase in violence, where people feel that it’s OK to just get rid of folks who they don’t agree with, it is just unacceptable. And all of those things combined just make it much more difficult for us.
Green: I know trans women who moved to Portland because they said they felt they could be who they are and get easier access to medical treatments. But Oregon is not always the utopia that I think some people who live here think it is. While we have the highest population rate of LGBTQ+ people, making up 5.6% of our population, we also have one of the highest gender identity hate crime rates among states. From your birds-eye view at the Human Rights Campaign, what would you say are the root issues in this country from which the hate stems, and how do we as a nation best address them?
Cooper: Well I think across the board, as a nation, one of the first things that comes to mind is a lack of conflict resolution skills. Folks have forgotten, or never learned, how to resolve their conflicts. And it could be something very, very menial. But then it could also be something very meaningful. And really having the proper skills to downgrade conflict and to resolve those conflicts is something that everyone can benefit from.
The panic defense was one of those things — I’m so glad it’s been struck down.
(Editor’s note: The LGBT Bar defines the panic defense as “a legal strategy which asks a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity is to blame for the defendant’s violent reaction, including murder.”)
And it’s continually being brought up in a number of states — we’re at 13 states (where the panic defense has been struck down), with 37 more to go, so hopefully very soon. But the panic defense is one of those examples of that. If folks had some type of conflict resolution skill, then they would not even be able to use that absolutely idiotic defense to get off or to get lesser charges when they kill someone or hurt someone.
Green: A slew of bills, more than 80, have been introduced across the country this year that seek to limit trans rights, and most of them are aimed at children. They range from sports exclusion and bathroom bills to laws that would limit a minor’s access in gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy. One of these bills goes so far as to add these treatments to the definition of child abuse. What is your sense of why so many of these bills are aimed at young people?
Cooper: My personal belief as a trans adult is that these bills are essentially going after folks who don’t have a voice for themselves — and that’s youth, and more specifically trans youths.
And using this misinformation and out and out lies, they’re able to convince people who have no relationship to the issue that it is a thing, that it is the bad thing, and that it is a horrible thing. And, that it is something that’s going to infiltrate their neighborhoods and damage their kids irreparably for life.
Also because trans kids often have cisgender parents, and they’re so few trans kids in general, compared to non-trans kids; there are so few in comparison to the general population, they understand that this is a community that they can beat up on, that they can prey upon — and I’m using that word intentionally — with very little consequence. You’re going after what will be considered as the weakest link because folks didn’t even think that trans kids existed until a few years ago, and now, because the general population is still not educated and still doesn’t understand that, they still feel that they can go after trans kids. Unfortunately, in some places they’re successfully doing it by using fear, misinformation and lies.
Green: What would you say is one of the most pervasive myths that is helping pass some of these laws?
Cooper: That’s like choosing one pain in your body. There are just so many that are out there. One is that trans kids have an unfair advantage (in sports). So I will say, in basketball, girls who are taller tend to have an advantage over girls that are smaller when it comes to dunking or when it comes to doing layups, but girls who are shorter have an advantage when it comes to dribbling sometimes, because they are closer to the ground. It’s the same thing in all sports, and so to really promote these fear tactics that these kids have some unfair advantage, and then remove what I would consider the great equalizer and that’s hormone therapy, that helps to affirm one’s gender — to remove that also, is saying, not only are we going to deny you the right to participate in sports, but we’re also going to deny the right to participate in a healthy mental health society for lack of a better term. So, we’re also going to refuse access to gender affirming hormones because we don’t understand trans people — it’s ridiculous. And for them to even villainize and even criminalize parents, who simply want their children to be healthy and happy. That’s something a lot of people are missing, that they are promoting for children to be unhealthy and unhappy.
Green: Is there any particular state where you see the passage of some of these laws is creating an especially dangerous environment for folks?
Cooper: I would say all of the states, because it’s not just vile for trans kids, but it’s also vile for kids that folks think are trans.
If a girl is considered too masculine, is she then going to have to do a genital exam with some guy, that’s 50 years old and a doctor? If there was a guy, a kid, who was a bit more feminine than his peers, is he going to have to do a genital exam just to take part in wrestling, by some 50-year-old guy? It’s creepy, it’s pedophilia-ish in my opinion. And again, that word is a testimony to the fact that they promoted genital exams on children to participate in sports. How absolutely psychotic and disgusting is that? And the fact that they’re convincing people that that’s the right thing to do — it’s vile, it’s disgusting. And it sounds like something out of a movie, it doesn’t feel like a real life. And unfortunately, so much of that is happening in the South, where there already is so much disparity between boys and girls sports, and between boys and girls, and then we add to that racial disparity, and economic disparity, and it is just one additional hurdle — again — for a problem that does not even exist. I think that’s the other thing that people don’t understand, that this is making headlines everywhere for a problem that doesn’t exist.
I thought about this over the weekend, many of these same states proposing bans on trans kids are the same ones that are coming up with these ridiculous and disproven voter fraud allegations, that are passing restrictive voter legislation as well. So you have one party who says they’re against the government, but yet they’re attempting to enforce the government rules in every part of our lives, including in our genitals — it is just absolutely disgusting.
"It's also important to make space, even when we’re not there, or standing next to us, to make sure that when trans folks are lobbying and protesting and when we are shouting at the top of our lungs, that you’re standing with us."
Green: It’s been an interesting time these last few years, and as trans women of color — coming out of four years of Trump, but then we’ve also seen incredible racial justice movement over the summer, paired with a pandemic — are you seeing progress and hope at this time?
Cooper: I will first make the distinction that I am Black. The reason I make that distinction is because Native American, Asian American, anybody other than a white, Anglo Saxton protestant is essentially a person of color, but yeah, even within that term, there’s a lot more disparity and discrimination. The darker you are, generally the more problems you are going to have in society. So I make the distinction that I am Black, rather than just a PoC, because there’s even disparity in that.
With that being said, if I didn’t have some hope, if people from my community didn’t have some hope, then we’d just all die. And when I mean die, I mean we would suffocate from grief if we didn’t have hope. We knew that to combat and to counteract four years of the Trump administration and those idiotic policies that it takes a Joe Biden — who is the most affirming LGBTQ president and has the most affirming administration, and reflective administration, in the history of the country. It takes light to counteract darkness. And so we have to have hope, we have to have hope that our voices are not just falling on deaf ears, and that people can not only see us, but they can also hear us. We have to have hope that the work that we’re doing isn’t in vain.
I get quoted in a lot of papers, but they are folks whose names you’ll never hear. Who are doing amazing work all over the world, and all over the country, in their own community, and are making a difference every single day. And so we all work and continue to do this work because we do have hope, we have hope that things are going to continue to change and move in the right direction.
Green: What do you wish trans allies understood better?
Cooper: I wish that trans allies would understand better their roles, their role in fighting injustice, and their role in ensuring equity.
I think there are a number of different ways to describe it. One way is to take space and make space. And so as allies, it is important to make space for trans and queer people and non-binary people, for our voices and our presence to be there. But it’s also important to make space, even when we’re not there, or standing next to us, to make sure that when trans folks are lobbying and protesting and when we are shouting at the top of our lungs, that you’re standing with us. And even when we’re not invited to the table, that you’re sitting at the table and representing us as an ally — all of those things I think are super, super important. There are many allies who don’t understand how important their voices are. And when we look through an intersectional lens in relation to race, culture and community, we know there are allies and even more opportunities for allyship. There aren’t any trans CEOs of Fortune 200 companies, and I don’t think there’s one of a Fortune 500 companies, and so as our allies are sitting in those spaces, it’s important to use your voice and your presence and your social capital to make sure that their policies are inclusive, that you’re supporting trans rights through inclusive employment policies and inclusive insurance and workplace diversity and etcetera etc., etc. And who you provide political support to and you know, and all kinds of different things.
I believe that one of the things that allies don’t understand is how important they are to the movement.
Green: How can people who live in Portland help stop the wave of anti-trans violence and lawmaking on the nationwide level? What organizations could they support?
Cooper: Certainly the Human Rights Campaign. We’re doing great work, not just in the Trans Justice Initiative, but really across the board: making sure that we’re impacting the lives of LGBTQ students at historically Black colleges and universities through our HBCU program, making sure that we are incorporating the voices of people living with HIV and in greater risk of HIV through our HIV and health equity program, through health in aging, and children in all families and welcoming schools and even our global policy. Our president, Alphonso David, is as incorporative of the many communities that fall under the LGBTQIA spectrum as he can be.
Folks in Portland, doing intentional work — Portland, Oregon, doesn’t have a lot of Black people, but make sure that the Black people there that are there, that their voices are heard and represented and that you share space with them. There are a few folks of Native American ancestry who are in Portland, so make sure that they have a seat at the table. We’re also seeing a heightened level of violence against our API folks. And so making sure that we’re hearing them and what their concerns are, and then addressing them. And I say this, it might sound kinda weird coming from a Black woman, but making sure that white people don’t feel left out of the picture, because white folks have a part to play in equity and freedom for everybody, and that’s true, we all have a part to play, to listen, and then lead.
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