Chris Cooper, Guest Host

Chris Cooper served as co-chair of the board of directors of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in the late ’80s, at a time when GLAAD was still a grass-roots, New York-based group organizing protest rallies against anti-gay violence, actions against the New York Post for its homophobic coverage, and television appearances to correct misleading programming about LGBT lives. His career as a writer and editor carried him to Marvel Comics, where he was assistant editor of the comic book that brought Marvel’s first superhero out of the closet, and the creator of Marvel’s first lesbian central character. He went on to create and write the Internet’s late, lamented LGBT superhero epic QUEER NATION: THE ONLINE GAY COMIC.

Chris’s political activism moved from the streets to the halls of government when, in response to the constant suppression of basic LGBT-positive legislation in New York State by the Republican majority in the state’s senate, he organized the political action committee (PAC) No More REPublicans Toying with Your Life (No More REPTYLs). The specific goal of No More REPTYLs was to help elect Democratic state senators in competitive New York districts currently held by Republicans, by funding the Democratic challengers’ campaigns. He later refined that model into Chris’ List, an email alert that pointed list members’ resources–whether in dollars or phone-calling, doorbell-ringing people power–directly towards worthy Democratic challenger candidates. With the passage of same-sex marriage into law in New York in 2011, Chris retired the list.