Contrary to recent reports that transgendered homeless icon Leslie Cochran was moving to Colorado, Leslie is still in Austin. And according to a statement from friends and family, Cochran is currently recuperating in an area hospital.
Local activist Debbie Russell says she is a spokesperson for Cochran and a relative. Russell sent out a release this morning:
Despite the rumor that Leslie left Austin for Oak Creek, Colorado a week and a half ago...that never took place. He had the money in hand for the train ticket, and I was assisting him getting his ID together to buy it (against my better judgment, questioning his health and safety). On Thursday, February 16, at approximately 4pm, I spoke to him by phone. He was supposed to call me two hours later once he got settled as his next locale, but that call never came. Instead, (as we found out several days later) at around 11pm, Leslie was found unconscious in a parking lot on S. 1st Street and Johanna, and transported to an area hospital.
Russell currently characterizes Cochran’s condition as “wait and see.”
Cochran came to prominence as a symbol of Austin “weirdness,” and has mounted several campaigns for public office and appeared in advertisements and as a set of refrigerator magnets. However Cochran still has encountered the dangers that a life on the street entails, including an assault in 2009.
