Cooper Green | Acts NOW

Stephen DeVries

Magnify

Or...in this case...He's So skirt!

“I am a feminist because…”

“I believe that women are God's greatest gift to the human race. Women are kinder, more gentle and peaceful, more loving and nurturing, and as such, they contribute more to the betterment of our world. Equality?! Puh-leeze. Women are MORE than equal!”

Cooper has been an active member of the National Organization for Women (NOW) since 2005. He’s marched, advocated and fought to prevent bills from encroaching on women’s rights. He didn’t ever go through a “cootie” phase. “I always knew there was a difference [between genders], and I knew it was good.”  

Is your family all from Birmingham? What's your relation to Cooper Green Hospital? Well, my Grandfather was a native of Birmingham. He was an overacheiver. He lettered in three or four sports at BSC, was a Post Master, Mayor, Alabama Power VP, President of the Jefferson County Commission. He felt the need to build a hospital for the indigent. Well, I was in the newspaper business for 20 years, starting in Alabama. I moved to New Jersey, then onto New York. My intetion all along was to come back to Alabama. It's a warmer, friendlier place to live.

What were some of the stark North/South differences you observed in women from your time outside of Alabama? Up North, the women enjoyed a greater sense of individual empowerment. I think part of it may have had to do with cultural/ethnic differences. There's more attachment to their roots. I worked at a printing plant [for a few years], and we had three women who worked there. The women where harder, edgier in their appearance and demeanor. Up there, people are much more open and honest doing business. Down here, the culture is so different. We tiptoe around things. But, [when coming home for a visit], when I'd hit the Atlanta airport, I'd fall in love six times with the soft, gentle way women were. I just noticed.

When did you start speaking up on women's behalf? I've always been pretty outspoken. There's never been a time I didn't feel the way I feel. Women come up with solutions, 99% of the time. Where men are stronger in brute strength, women are stronger in terms of stamina and endurance. We're the sprinters, ya'll are the marathoners.

Who were your biggest influences? The young women who were brave enough to "invade" the very traditional, all-male college prep school I attended for junior high and high school had a tremendous influence on my development as a feminist. Prior to my sophomore year (1972-1973) Birmingham University School (B.U.S.) had been an all-boys institution for more than fifty years. The first year it went co-ed several fearlessly independent and exceptionally intelligent young women -- Dodie Bowron, Melissa Ballard, Rosie Ward, Peggy Farless and others -- applied, were accepted, and began attending classes with their new, male peers. They made themselves at home and quickly proved to everyone at B.U.S. that females were every bit as capable as their male counterparts. The only female in my graduating class, Dodie Bowron, not only held her own, she ruled!

My parents were also a huge influence on my views regarding equality. As I grew up in the 1960s -- a time of civil rights protests and great social upheaval -- my parents brought my sister and me up in a home that was not only color blind but free of any sort of prejudice. It allowed us to see all people as equal.