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Cambridge Coun. Adam Cooper will be required to take sensitivity training after the city’s integrity commissioner found he broke the council’s code of conduct by sharing a meme on his Facebook page earlier this year.
The report from the integrity commissioner suggested an official reprimand and docked pay for 10 days.
While Cooper was formally reprimanded, other councillors decided against docking his pay.
On Jan. 22, Coun. Adam Cooper posted a meme on his public Facebook page but later took it down.
The image showed someone with blue hair yelling at the camera, with the text “He took my pronouns! I have to live in reality now!” This seemed to refer to a U. S. executive order by President Donald Trump that ended several protections for 2SLGBTQ+ rights.
Cooper’s post sparked 10 complaints filed with the city’s integrity commission.
Councillors spent considerable time discussing the report and tossed around ideas about what action to take, including one suggestion that Cooper donate his pay for those 10 days to charities supporting transgender and gender non-conforming people – but that idea didn’t pass.
Coun. Mike Devine proposed an amendment requiring Cooper to complete sensitivity training within three months.
“I do believe that with some sensitivity training that Councillor Cooper will see things somewhat differently,” he said, mentioning how eye-opening such training had been for him personally.
Coun. Scott Hamilton urged council to accept all recommendations from the report.
“I think it’s important for us to show our residents that if we want them to trust our ethical standards, we should follow what the integrity commissioner advises,” he said.
‘Lots of messages came in’
John Mascarin and Meghan Cowan from Toronto law firm Aird & Berlis LLP acted as integrity commissioners during this investigation and shared their findings at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Mascarin said Cooper was informed about formal complaints on March 13 and had a chance to respond before any decisions were made.
“We gave Councillor Cooper drafts of our preliminary findings and final report so he could provide feedback before anything was finalized,” he explained.
Coun. Adam Cooper (top left) speaking at council on Tuesday Oct. 14. John Mascarin (top right) and Meghan Cowan (bottom) of Aird & Berlis LLP presented their integrity report at council. (City of Cambridge You Tube)
Mascarin told councillors that Cooper’s post got “a lot of attention” both online and in mainstream media when it first appeared, resulting in “lots of messages” from people commenting on it.
Most were critical – they denounced both the post itself and how Councillor Cooper handled things afterward – urging actions like removing him from office which is beyond their power.
But they also received support through emails, phone calls, and voicemails backing Cooper’s stance.
</bris Cowan pointed out that “the post wasn’t very sensitive” considering what was going on publicly at that time.
</bris She added many saw it as mocking folks who use pronouns other than she/her or he/him.
</bris The report included statements about how hurtful people found it.
</bris
Cooper responds
Cooper disagreed with some recommendations saying he didn’t create the meme himself but shared it hoping humor would ease tensions around a tough subject.
</bris “Some people don’t like being questioned or having humor applied,” he said.
He also spoke about negative fallout affecting him personally:
“These people went after my family, they went after my friends, they went after anybody that I remotely did business with,”
he said.
“They came at us with the most hateful accusations you can imagine, ones that I won’t repeat here.”
Cooper mentioned feeling there’s a growing cancel culture threatening open political discussion.
“We need to get back to civil, mature discussion. Civil debate and discourse where we talk about our differences,” he said.
“I’m going keep speaking on stuff some might find uncomfortable but really needs saying. I’ll keep doing just that.”
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