Dawn Cohen

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Dawn Cohen
Born	South Africa
Spouse	Robyn Clark (partner)

Dawn Cohen, anAustralian resident was the initiator of Dayenu Association, the Australian Jewish lesbian and gay group, which lead to a revolution of acceptance for Jewish gays and lesbians in the country.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Dayenu 2.1 Gay and lesbian mardi gras 2.1.1 Media presence 2.1.2 Results 3 References 4 Further reading

[edit] Biography

Cohen, a journalist, migrated to Australia from South Africa at the age of 20. She is in a 20-year relationship with Robyn Clark, an Anglo-Australian.

In 1990, she spoke at the Australian Jewish community's first major public debate on homosexuality as part of the Jewish Free University. The debate, organised by a young heterosexual man, Nick Seeman, took place at the Hakoah Club and included a progressive and orthodox Rabbi. The topic was "Lies my father told me, there is no such thing as a Jewish lesbian or gay." Her passionate talk ended with a plea to the community to "let us in." She received acclaim from many members of the community for breaking the silence on the topic with high profile coverage in the Australian Jewish News.

She has written about left-wing antisemitism for the Australian Jewish News and numerous journals and newspapers. She also addressed Australia's National Human Rights Conference in 2003, and in February 2005 gave a talk on left-wing antisemitism at Monash University's Antisemitism Conference.^[1]

[edit] Dayenu

Cohen founded the group in 1999 with the support of two other Australian lesbians who may not wish to be identified. She, Malcom Davidovits, and one of the lesbians were elected co-convenors. The aim was to break the invisibility of Jewish lesbians and gays in both the gay community and the Jewish community. Cohen believed this invisibility made it impossible for gay and lesbian Jews to overcome the institutionalised homophobia in the Jewish community and left them feeling isolated and alone.

While still forming the group, Cohen asked Sydney's major Jewish gay men's group to join the yet-unnamed organisation.

[edit] Gay and lesbian mardi gras

Dayenu coordinated the effort to build the first Jewish float for the March 4, 2000 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, despite the disapproval of Sydney's orthodox rabbinate.^[2] The Stars of David Come-Out float, which took a year to organize, had an Exodus theme to symbolize the ongoing struggle gays and lesbians faced in society, and especially in the Jewish community.^[3] A lesbian donor annonymously funded a US lesbian Rabbi to lead the group in the parade,^[2] which attracted more than 100 Jewish gays and lesbians, as well as dozens of parents and friends. Many participants came out for the first time on the march, some of whom held office in orthodox and progressive Jewish institutions in Australia.

Prior to the float, there had only been small Jewish walking groups in the parade, organised primarily by Melbourne groups.

During the lead up to the parade, Cohen also persuaded an orthodox college, Shalom College, to hold a Sabbath celebration on March 3 for gay and lesbian visitors to the Mardi Gras parade.^[3] Progressive synagogues Temple Emmanuel Woollahra and North Shore also agreed to participate.

[edit] Media presence

Cohen organised national newspaper, TV and radio coverage for the Jewish float in the parade. She also liaised with overseas Jewish and gay organisations, a campaign to get overseas representation in the parade. Her aim was to create as much media coverage as possible to break the silence and invisibility of Jewish gay people.

She succeeded in getting Jewish gays and lesbians from all over the world to support their Australian counterparts by joining in the March. While the float was covered by the Australian Jewish News (AJN) prior to the day of the parade, the paper was initially reluctant to give front page coverage to the float at the parade. The day after, mere hours before the paper's deadline, Cohen interviewed two high-profile heterosexual Holocaust survivors who participated in the parade: the writer Di Armstrong, and psychologist Susi Wise. Cohen presented the interviews to the newspaper - a story so strong, the paper would had every journalistic right to place Dayenu's participation in the parade on the front page, which it did, complete with colour images. (AJN March 5, 2000) Di Armstrong subsequently wrote a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald on her participation.

[edit] Results

This level of support and visibility for gays and lesbians from Jewish institutions was unprecedented in Australia. For the first time in the history of the country, the orthodox rabbinate tried to formally challenge independent Jewish institutions by calling the editor of the newspaper and the leaders of the Shalom College to account for themselves at the Jewish court, the Beth Din. (AJN April, 2000) They believed major Jewish institutions should not support gays and lesbians in this fashion. The editor of the newspaper, Vic Alhadeff, and the Shalom College leaders refused to attend the court, arguing freedom of the press and right to independent decision making. The incident sparked an avalanche of letters to the newspaper from people opposed to the rabbinical action and supporting the rights of Jewish lesbians and gays to have a presence in the community.

Meanwhile, Di Armstrong was one of a group of supporters who organised a national advertisement listing well-known Jewish identities backing the rights of Jewish gays and lesbians to live openly in the community.

As a direct result of the parade and its aftermath, many Jewish lesbians and gays joined local synagogues for the first time, and are now open members of the Jewish community.

The conflict is not resolved. The orthodox rabbinate is as opposed as ever to the acceptance of homosexuality and the rights of Jewish gay people to participate publicly and openly in community life. But thanks to Cohen, other members of Dayenu, editor Vic Alhadeff, Shalom College, and the progressive synagogues, the Australian Jewish community took an unprecedented public step in openly questioning its own religious leaders.

Dayenu continues to provide an annual shabbat dinner at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras each year, and frequently contributes a walking group to the parade. (Australian Jewish News, March 7, 2007)

More about Cohen: In 1982, Dawn Cohen initiated Australia's first national action against the overprescription of benzodiazepines, the sleeping pills and anti- anxiety tablets like Valium and Mogadon.

As a worker at Leichhardt Womens Health Centre, at the age of 23, Cohen organised a national phone- in for women prescribed the drug. At that time, the drugs were believed to be generally safe.

The phone-in revealed many women were suffering side-effects of the drugs even at prescribed doses,  but did not know their symptoms were caused by the medication. The pills caused the insomnia for which they were prescribed if used for too long. 
 Cohen saw the drugs as killing off women's spirits while allowing them to go on fulfilling the needs of husbands and children. 
 As a result of the phone-in,  a NSW State-funded campaign was organised called in 1986 to help women cope with the feelings without automatically resorting to medication. The campaign was called

"Give your feelings a better chance" At the launch of the campaign, Cohen was quoted comparing the drugs destruction of women's spirits to "the atomic weapons that leave buildings standing but kill off the people."

Cohen works as a freelance  journalist, and as a reporter  for the Northern Star, an APN-owned regional newspaper.
 

Publications  Cohen, D. Are you a Wimp? St George Express. 12th May, 1987.

 Cohen D. The House That Jill Built. In B’Yachad Caryn Grynek (Ed) March , 1996.

 Cohen, D. My Right Foot. The Julei Korner Story. Cover Story LOTL, November 1997.

 Cohen, D. Special Investigation Exclusive: Derek Llewellyn Jones Made it up. Cover Story. LOTL, May 1997.

 Cohen, D. Eastern Distributor Bad for Your Health. Sydney City Hub. January 1st 1998.

 Cohen , D. Greg Fisher exposed. G Magazine. January 2001.

 Cohen, D. Having the heart for it. AJN. Jun 2002.

 Cohen, D. Slow Water, Review. Sydney Star Observer, April 2003.

 Cohen, D. Byron Bay Blues. Australian Jewish News. July 2003.

 Cohen, D. Jews in Byron. Australian Jewish News. Octo

Chapters and publications.

 Cohen, D. Media Project: Tranquillizers. Drug and Alcohol Authority, January 1985.  Cohen, D. The Workplace And Your Health. Speculum Speaks, July 1992  Cohen, D. Psychotherapy and the 12 steps Connexions, July/August 1992 , p27-28.  Cohen, D., Fisher, J. Assertiveness. State Health Publication (S.S.A.H.S) 89/095. 1989.  Cohen, D. Karen Horney’s Response. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 30(3) 1996, p427.  Cohen, D. A Conscious Daily Decision. In: Words from the Same Heart. Eds:: Bradstock,M and Wakeling L. 1987. Hale and Iremonger.  Cohen, D., Hill,D., Mills, J. Sydney Drug Action Industry Expo. March 1986, New South Wales Drug and Alcohol Authority General Publication Series C86/1.  Cohen, D. Days of Our Lives In: What is Discrimination? A.D.B, March 1990 ISBN 0 7305 7006. Cohen, D. Royalties. Australian Author, December 2006. Cohen,D. Specialist Bookshops, Australian Author,August 2004. Cohen, D. The Book's Shelf Life. Australian Author, December, 2005.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Antisemitism in the contemporary world Conference Program
• (German) Dayenu Foundation