Leslie Cochran (born as Albert Leslie Cochran[1][2] on June 24, 1951) is an American peace activist, cross-dresser, street person and local celebrity in Austin, Texas. He is a critic of police treatment of the homeless.
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Leslie Cochran was born and raised in Miami. He is the third of six children (3 boys and 3 girls). He was born "Albert Leslie Cochran," to Albert and Enid Atwater Cochran, both now deceased. Leslie attended Florida State University, but never graduated. He lived in the Pacific Northwest and at one time worked as a truck driver frequently traveling up and down the West coast. Cochran has told the Austin American-Statesman that he was briefly married in 1985 and 1986. He spent nine months in the Naval Reserve in 1974 and 1975, worked for Safeway grocery stores in Seattle, skinned road-kill in Colorado and tanned the hides, worked as a disc jockey near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, lived in a converted bookmobile in Shreveport, Louisiana, Tampa, Florida, and Atlanta, and then took a year to ride a three-wheeled bicycle to Austin in January 1996.[1]
Cochran loiters near 6th Street, usually around 6th and Congress during business hours. He is most frequently seen wearing women's clothing; his most popular attire is a leopard thong and high-heeled shoes. Leslie prefers to be known as a man.[3]
Around 1:00 a.m. on the Saturday morning of October 3, 2009, Leslie Cochran was found outdoors in a vegetative state and was transported to University Medical Center Brackenridge in critical condition. Within two weeks he had regained consciousness and was transferred to a rehabilitation center. When he was released, on October 23, 2009, Cochran reported that he had been attacked after commenting to a group of people about the dangers of drug abuse.[4][5][6]
Cochran has run for Mayor of Austin three times, most recently in 2003.[7] Cochran is featured prominently in the 2010 book, Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas. In the book, the author interviews Leslie at Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse where they discuss such topics as Austin's rapid growth, commercialization, and the "Keep Austin Weird" campaign.[8]
In 2009, Costa Systems created the "iLeslie" iPhone application. The application contains an assortment of sound bites by Leslie; as well two longer interviews with Leslie where he recounts select experiences in Austin. Half of all profits go to Leslie. The Apple iTunes App Store sells the application.[9]