story by Sarah Rutledge Fischer | photo courtesy Office of Steve Cohen
U.S. Representative Steve Cohen is a fourth generation Memphian. He was Shelby County Commissioner from 1978-80. He served in the TN General Assembly as a State Senator from 1982 to 2006. He’s been the Congressperson for the 9th District since 2007. He’s our towering oak in the midst of so many Capitol Hill saplings.
Congressman Steve Cohen, U.S. Representative for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District since 2007, has long been an ally of the Memphis LGBT community.
Here in Memphis, Representative Cohen has stood among us in times of joy and times of heartbreak. He joined us in January at the Women’s March as more than 3,000 people marched from the D’Army Bailey Court House to the National Civil Rights Museum. He joined us last summer in Cooper Young as we gathered together to mourn the horrific mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. He has joined us year after year to celebrate progress, community, and, of course, pride at our annual Mid-South Pride Festival and Parade.
At a national level, Representative Cohen has proudly championed LGBT rights in Congress and the media. He has sponsored and supported legislation against hate crimes and spoken before Congress about the discrimination and sexual violence faced by transgender students. His voting record on LGBT and other human rights issues received a perfect rating on the Human Rights Campaign Scorecard for both the 113th and 114th Congress.
Last month, in the wake of the recent presidential election, we reached out to Representative Cohen for his thoughts on this administration’s potential impact on the LGBT community.
Congressman Cohen, as we settle into the early months of this new administration, what are your concerns for the LGBT community?
“Well there are several. I think anybody that’s not a white, male heterosexual has so much to worry about with this administration. Much of that is because (White House Chief Strategist) Steve Bannon, who is calling the shots, is your traditional, Ozzy and Harriet, 1950s American, with a perspective of wanting to return to those days of yesteryear.
“I know the president has been in New York and the world. He’s had gay associates and friends, I’m sure. But apparently, they haven’t moved him enough in his political instincts to go beyond Steve Bannon’s basic call for this kind of white, traditional family that I think they are going to move. While (President Trump) said something the other day about not doing anything that is going to hurt gay and lesbians, when he nominated his latest nominee for the Supreme Court, he’s not good on the type of issues that would be important to lesbian and gays, bis, transgenders, etc. Also, with his (new) secretary of education, DeVos—she’s made clear that the Bible is what she wants to put back in the school. People that very much have the Bible on their shoulder are usually thinking that Adam is supposed to stay with Eve and not be with Steve. So, that’s not a good thing.
“The Hobby Lobby/RFRA [(Religious Freedom Restoration Act)] announcement (President Trump) made at the prayer breakfast—that he’s going to propose this new RFRA proposal—that’s basically the Hobby Lobby case (Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a controversial 2014 Supreme Court decision granting certain types of corporations a right to religious exemption from some federal regulations), which (Trump’s) Supreme Court nominee made his name supporting. The president seems to be . . . putting religion ahead of other people’s rights, saying that the right they see in the religion, whether it is a corporation wanting to put their religious seal over the insurance policies of their employees or any other thing, will come first. If a gay couple wants to get married…that gay couple is going to have to look a couple different places before they can find their wedding cake or their pizza.”
There is a great need to get LGBT people more involved in politics at a local and regional level, but many people don’t know where to start. What would you suggest?
“Well, you start by getting registered to vote, and you vote in every single election. When elections come up, even for city council and county commission, where they make decisions—and the county commission right now is doing things that are hurting Planned Parenthood—you call every single one of your friends and get them out to vote and vote for the right candidate.
“It’s been distressing to me to see, over the years, people not vote. At elections, we have a twenty percent turnout. People, if they get out and vote, if the gay and lesbian community votes, they can have a big impact, if everybody votes and votes for the right people. I know there are gay republicans, as perverted as that may seem, but people need get out and vote and vote for the candidate that’s going to be for inclusion, for tolerance, for diversity, for the twenty-first century America, and not the Eisenhower era 1950s America.
“The fact that Donald Trump is president—there’s a whole lot of factors. The Russians are part of it. Jim Comey, [Director of the FBI,] is part of it. But if the people who didn’t vote, who realize how disaffected they are and how this is going to affect their lives would have gotten out and voted, Clinton would have been president. If the people who were all upset because Hillary Clinton wasn’t the perfect person, and they voted for Jill Stein, they’d have voted for Hillary Clinton, we wouldn’t have been in the position it is today. Politics is about choices.
“So, the first thing they’ve got to do is they’ve got to go get registered; the second thing is they’ve got to vote every election; and the third thing is they’ve got to call all of their friends and get them out to vote for the right candidates.
“They can participate and should participate in marches and write letters to the editor and get involved in social media. Those things are important. There was a great turnout on Cooper, after the Orlando shooting. People got out. It was a great crowd, and it was, more or less, spontaneous. People showed their support for the gay and lesbian community and for protections, and I guess they also showed support for some more logical gun laws. But you’ve got to stay current. It can’t just be because there was a tragedy in Orlando and people came together once.
They’ve got to stay engaged, and they’ve got to march with other people who have similar interests or like interests. When Planned Parenthood marches, when immigrants march, when gays and lesbians march, everybody’s got to march together.
“You know there was someone who said, “People who hate, hate everybody.” People who hate Jews hate Blacks. People who hate lesbians and gays, they hate Hispanics, and they hate foreigners. All the people who are the objects of hate—and gays and lesbians have been, Jews have been, Blacks have been—we’ve all got to stick together.”
Photo courtesy of Office of Steve Cohen
What else can we do as individuals, as a community, and as a city to protect the LGBT community?
“Well, I think police review boards are important. I think that inclusion of gays and lesbians in appointments to board and commissions at a local level is important. I think that supporting groups like the [Mid-South] Peace and Justice Center, and Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU are very important. I think that those are very important things.
“There are all kinds of statements that people can make. You’ve got to get involved and be active on a regular basis. Writing letters to the editor is important. You see more right-wing letters to the editor from people that are contra to the gays and lesbians than you see supportive letters. There are a few folks I know in the gay and lesbian community that are good at writing letters to the editor and being on social media, but there are a whole lot of people that you never hear from. And there are a whole lot of people that just don’t get involved. And the people have got to get involved. “This is a serious time in American history. We could lose our republic, potentially. I see no limit to Bannon and what he gets Trump to do. He doesn’t believe in diversity, and he’s never been for civil rights and voting rights. This is awful. We have gone backwards, and when you go backwards, gays and lesbians lose.
“I’ve been supporting issues of diversity and tolerance and civil rights all my life. I think I was the first person to ever advertise politically, back in the 80s, in a gay and lesbian newspaper. It was considered a bold move. Then I influenced a couple of other candidates to do it. I’ve been the first politician ever to be in the [Memphis] Gay Pride Parade, and then later other politicians came along. People have got to get involved and find politicians that are willing to stand up publicly. It’s not difficult today to stand publicly with gays and lesbians like it was in the 80s, but it’s still difficult for some people. People need to make people responsive and understanding and tolerant.
“I was the only person in the state senate, at one point, not to vote for the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. . . . People have got to understand that Loving v. Virginia [(the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case that overturned laws prohibiting interracial marriage)] wasn’t that long ago and that it’s a whole lot of recent history that they are trying to turn over.”
Getting Out The Local Vote
Shelbyvote.com
If you live in Shelby County and have questions about voting, your first stop should be the website of the Shelby County Election Commission. (shelbyvote.com) The website provides guidance on issues as simple as finding your polling place and as complex as the restoration of voting rights. The site is also a great resource for finding out about upcoming elections in the Shelby County area.
Researching Candidates
Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to researching candidates. For state and national level candidates, there are a good number of online resources that provide perspective on a candidate’s history and voting record. The Human Rights Campaign, for instance, keeps an online Congressional Scorecard that tracks how elected officials have voted on key issues of equality. (hrc.org/resources/congressional-scorecard)
With local candidates, it can be helpful to research their appearances in the local publications. Both The Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Flyer maintain year-round sections focused on Memphis politics that can be easily searched online. While you are online, you can always go to candidates’ websites to read their platforms, but if you can, try to attend local fundraisers and events in person. Not only will this give you a chance to meet and hear from the candidate in person, but it will make sure that the candidate sees that you and the communities you represent demand to be counted.
