Christian Cooper

Christian Cooper (born 1963, Long Island, New York) is a science writer, comic book writer and editor, ornithologist, LGBTQ+ activist, Emmy Award-winning television host, and New York Times bestselling author — a life defined by the pursuit of birds, stories, and justice. He grew up a self-described Blerd (Black nerd) obsessed with Marvel Comics and birding, and attended Harvard University where he came out as gay and became a prominent LGBTQ+ activist, serving as co-chair of the board of directors of GLAAD in the 1980s. He began his comic book career at Marvel in 1990, becoming one of the first openly gay writers and editors at the company, creating what is believed to be Marvel's first lesbian character and contributing to the creation of its first openly gay male character. His editorial work included Darkhold, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and various X-Men collections. In May 2020, while birdwatching in Central Park's Ramble, Cooper was racially profiled when a white dog walker called 911 and falsely accused him of threatening her after he asked her to leash her dog. His video of the incident went viral and became one of the defining racial justice moments of that year, coinciding with the murder of George Floyd. Cooper responded by channeling the experience into art: his DC Comics graphic novel It's a Bird (2020), the first entry in DC's Represent! digital anthology series, fictionalizes the encounter through the story of a Black teenage birdwatcher with magic binoculars that reveal historic accounts of racial violence. His New York Times bestselling memoir Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World (Random House, 2023) recounts his full life story. His National Geographic series Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2024.