Austin Heller, Civil & Gay Rights Activist, Former Candidate, Campaign Management
Jun 15, 2022Season 2Episode 24
Fannin Co. GA Democratic Party
The North GA Blue: Getting into Good Trouble podcast covers democratic politics in North GA, the 9th Congressional District, and across the state of Georgia. The podcast is in Q&A/Interview format with various democratic politicos including county chairs, democratic operatives, politicians, and more. It is our mission to deliver crucial information to our listeners in a timely manner as we fight for community values and principles in the 3rd most Conservative district in the state. Our website is: https://www.fcdpga.com/podcasts
Our guests highlight democratic activities and actions to work toward a Blue Georgia. The 9th Congressional District spans 20 counties across the region and covers a good deal of northern GA including Blue Ridge, Morganton, Fannin, Union, Banks, Athens/Clarke, Dawson, Elbert, Forsyth, Franklin, Gilmer, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, and White counties.
Our democratic party podcast also disseminates information and interviews powerful Democrats across the state of GA working to overthrow the suppression tactics of the GOP and ensure democracy and our values, grassroots efforts, and goals remain intact.
The North GA Blue: Getting into Good Trouble podcast covers democratic politics in North GA, the 9th Congressional District, and across the state of Georgia. The podcast is in Q&A/Interview format with various democratic politicos including county chairs, democratic operatives, politicians, and more. It is our mission to deliver crucial information to our listeners in a timely manner as we fight for community values and principles in the 3rd most Conservative district in the state. Our website is: https://www.fcdpga.com/podcasts
Our guests highlight democratic activities and actions to work toward a Blue Georgia. The 9th Congressional District spans 20 counties across the region and covers a good deal of northern GA including Blue Ridge, Morganton, Fannin, Union, Banks, Athens/Clarke, Dawson, Elbert, Forsyth, Franklin, Gilmer, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, and White counties.
Our democratic party podcast also disseminates information and interviews powerful Democrats across the state of GA working to overthrow the suppression tactics of the GOP and ensure democracy and our values, grassroots efforts, and goals remain intact.
Hello and welcome back to the North Georgia Blue Podcast produced and distributed by the Fannin County, Georgia Democratic Party. I'm your host Meral Clarke and we're getting into some good trouble today with our guest Austin Heller LGBTQ plus activist, former Cobb County School Board candidate and current member of Georgia representative Park Canons reelection campaign and Nick Miller's campaign running for the State House in HD 35 Welcome to the show. Austin. We're happy to have you with us today.
Austin Heller:
Thank you for having me. I'm very honored and humbled to be here with you all.
Meral Clarke:
Well, we're honored to have you thank you for all you do. So let's let our listeners know a little bit about you. Austin is an LGBTQ plus civil rights activist in the metro Atlanta area where he actively works to combat systems of inequality in education, housing, and criminal justice. He educates and mentors young people on elections and voting as the team leader of Kennesaw State University's civic engagement team. Austin is also a communications consultant for various political campaigns and a former candidate for the Cobb County Board of Education. Well, that's fabulous. So let's dive right in with all that you do have quite a bit to talk about. Let's chat about your run, first and foremost, for Cobb County School Board. Why did you decide to run for office while still in college at KSU? And tell us why local elections such as School Board matter.
Austin Heller:
I was not originally planning to run for office at 19 and 20 years old, but a quote that I live by one of my idols Heroes is John Lewis, and his quote, If not now, when, if not who us I live by that when I'm doing my civil rights work, and we're getting out of the community and getting into good trouble. And I didn't know of anyone running for the school board seat that I was in formally before redistricting. And I knew that my opponent could not just get away with running unopposed, my former opponent refers to the Civil War still in 2022, as the war for southern independence. Yes, it was not where our education system needed to be going. It was focusing on culture wars, and not teacher support systems and Pandemic related relief and our literacy gaps and mathematics gaps between different student groups. And I saw another young activist, leader, friend and hero of mine Royce man running for Atlanta public schools, and 19 years old, as a student at Emory. And I said, why can I do the same? We need to build a coalition of people who are going to progress Georgia forward with everybody included. And so I said, Why not me? And why not now, and I can make it work. And this is the best of both worlds. I'm a political science Legal Studies student, and I have a passion for education. I was a former elementary education major here at KSU. And so the school board was the perfect place for policy and education to converge.
Meral Clarke:
Fantastic. Well, thank you for your run. And we definitely hope that you'll run again. So you're currently working on representative Park Canon's reelection campaign. By the way, she's a former guest and friend of the show. We're all fans of hers, and also Nick Miller's campaign for the State House, as I stated earlier, why did you decide to work for their campaigns, especially while you're still in school? You're studying for the LSAT to go to law school? What made you once you dropped out of that race? Because of gerrymandering? Why did you decide to go to work for these two individuals in particular?
Austin Heller:
Well, a lot of people were like, What are you going to do? Are you going to move and obviously moving, it's not as easy as the GOP makes it sound like you can just move back into the district lines of whatever you're doing. And a lot of us, especially young people, and students don't have financial stability in that sense in that way. And so I said, I can't just let our systems continue to oppress people continue to leave people out of the conversation. So I said, let's get behind some really fierce advocate. Make sure that we get people in office that can qualify for the ballot this cycle and Park Cannon is always been a state leader that I've admired very deeply. She fights for everyone, people who look and sound and believe like her and people who are complete opposites of her. She fights equally as hard for everyone and her work for educational resources and her pilot program for making it less of a stigma of HIV. V is a huge issue her work for voting rights for us to be able to go to the ballot box. I joined her campaign I reached out to her after Cindi die the last day of session. And I said, How can I help you? I'm ready to help you professionally if you would give me the opportunity. So I met with her at her launch and she was brought me on any social media for Park. I help her with events when I can make them out to there. And then Nick Miller here in Kennesaw, that's my district. So currently, because of district lines changing, I was moved into House District 35 from House District 34. And so my representative currently until the election is at settler.
Meral Clarke:
Oh, first of all, I'm so sorry. deepest condolences. We have Andrew Clyde. So I'm right there with you.
Austin Heller:
Yes, definitely is it's a lot of uphill battles here in Kennesaw Acworth and I refuse to be represented by it sir in the Senate and stand idly by doing that. So I've also publicly endorsed and support I don't work officially for Titus Nichols with Titus Nichols is running in the state senate against hopefully in the primary we'll make it through but Nick Miller is a local to Kennesaw and Nick Miller went to North Cobb High School, Nick Miller knows and understands, especially in the recent days, how important it is to have equity and access to health care and reproductive care. He believes in equity across the community. He understands that different individuals need different help and different steps in order to be successful, that we're not all starting at the same place. He wants to help along other statewide leaders and our school to prison pipelines. And I've met with Nick he's the most personable person you'll ever meet on a campaign trail a really does feel like like old friends like cutting up and jokes and when we're in the car dropping signs are on Kennesaw. And I'm very honored to work for both of them, to say the least.
Meral Clarke:
Well, they're lucky to have you. That's all I can say. Moving on considering the recent attacks at the time of this taping, the politico report came out about the Supreme Court draft, which of course is nefarious and infringes on all rights on women and is an attack on women's reproductive health care. So do you believe that they will come after same sex marriage next? And what can we do on both the local and state level to mitigate this damage to all of our civil rights?
Austin Heller:
I definitely am not holding my breath for Justice Alito, to adjust his moral compass at the Supreme Court to at this point expect that nothing is safe. The the thing that bothers me the most about this decision is that it ignores and invalidates the entire history of the Supreme Court. It ignores over 150 years of precedent of stare decisis. And it, what it does, is strikes down arguably every single decision that ruled on the right to privacy. And it's very, very telling that the party that nominates justices that rule this way is, quote unquote, the party of free speech and the party of personal liberty. But when we asked for our women to be able to make their own decisions, or we asked our men and women and non binary people and friends, to be able to marry who they want to marry, it's suddenly an infringement on their personal liberty for somebody else to make a personal decision for themselves and Alito mentioned in his supreme court opinion that was leaked directly criticizing Obergefell and Lawrence v. Texas, which stops states from punishing homosexual acts, quote, unquote. So what we're seeing is a direct attack on everyone. Right now, it's especially heinous that a woman is being denied her ability to make her own decisions and bodily autonomy. But it takes it a step further of how insidious and how calculated and how intentional for 50 years of sowing the seeds and planting and getting to this point where we are of everyone's rights are under attack right now. And they've been under attack. And so to have the highest court in the land roll this way, and so abruptly, especially after being questioned in hearings by the United States Senate under oath, saying that this was the President of the United States of America is very, very surprising and shocking to me. And so what we can do, we need to vote locally, we need to forget the notion of like voting for a president to get a nominee through. That is the top level. We need attorney generals and all of our states that uphold the right to an abortion that will say the word abortion that will be advocates for all women and women identifying people in Georgia and other states like Texas and Florida and Missouri. And that starts at the local level that starts in primary elections that starts in and municipalities with judges and superior court judges and date supreme court justices that will uphold and add to our state constitutions codified laws, that entrench the right for a woman to be able to decide what she wants to do with her body that decide and allow us to marry who we want to marry. And so it sounds simple, get out and vote locally. But you have to be intentional with your vote. You've got to put pro choice candidates through and you have to put pro personal liberty candidates through as well.
Meral Clarke:
Yes, I would have to agree and I'm terrified. The moment of this MCE court and extremely far right wing court that is going to take away more civil liberties and protections. So tell us how you first became interested in political activism Austin, and in particular, as we celebrate Pride Month, how you became interested in what was the impetus for all of your work for which we thank you for all of the work that you do for LGBTQ plus candidates, communities and people.
Austin Heller:
I was politically disinvested until 2020. And it was not because I didn't like other people, or I didn't believe in a society or community based approach to anything. I think it was extremely privileged life. I grew up in a military household. And I watched service, both by my dad who served in the Army, but also my mom who works for service oriented parts of the army and help military spouses and families. They both have been serving my entire life plus 10 years, and they provided a lot for me, they provided a safe haven a safe home, they provided financial stability, emotional stability, and I had a great extended family as well. And so growing up until right about 2020, there were no policies that were intentionally targeting me as an individual. And so I didn't have to pay attention. And so 2020 strikes and the pandemic hits and you're at home and my parents were overseas already. My mom had recently started a new position and they're overseas working on behalf of the Army, and I am at gaggan at KSU in Kennesaw or an heiress family, it was no longer at Fort Benning. They were they moved to Germany that January and 2020. So in March, the pandemic hit my was visiting and staying like six plus months with my aunt uncle up in Stafford County, Virginia, right around Washington, DC and watching the pandemic just tear down our healthcare system, the one that was already fractured to begin with, it left me no choice but to sit there and see what was going on the inequity, the inaccessibility to many to many people who it's been intentionally kept from criminal justice reform in the name of George Floyd, it really opened my eyes, the pandemic, if there ever was a silver lining as it launched me into this completely new realm of activism and community outreach. And I said, Why do we continue to sit here and allow poverty to be a thing that is a poor policy decision, we could end that tomorrow, if we all really wanted to do that. Why are people not being able to go to the doctor because they owe a balance that cost more than their yearly income, we don't have to work this way. There's no person that is over all of us right now that saying we have to do these things this way. And if we're not, we're all going to burn up in one instance. So we can decide to change the model of how we function as a nation. We've done it throughout history, and we continue to do it. And so that's really how I got launched into the fight.
Meral Clarke:
I'm glad that you're in the fight. We need all hands on deck at this point with the fringe Supreme Court that we have at the moment. Yes. So what are some of the specific policies that we're dealing with in Georgia and with our right wing legislature, so many Republicans and Republicans in state offices that we must remove and replace with Democrats? What are some of the specific policy decisions that you oppose and that you believe we need to work to change?
Austin Heller:
Well, there's a quite a handful. And I think a lot of people aren't really familiar with like things that are not even having to affect them. I think when you're not under attack constantly as a demographic of people, then it's easier to think that the government is working for everyone when it's really just working for you and a select handful of your friends. And the we saw that in SB 202, the most restrictive voting law since Jim Crow and eliminated so many early polling locations, because Heaven forbid people be able to go vote early and not have to take time off work since Election day is not a paid holiday off. And, you know, I've heard from close friends and family friends and if you really want to vote, you'll get in line and you'll wait and I reply, you're privileged enough to be able to spend six hours in a voting line and be able to make rent at the end of the month. Some of our folks in Georgia actually quite a hand Fall of folks in Georgia don't have hours of wages to sacrifice. They're already living check to check. So we have to get them to the polls after they clock out. We have to get them into the polls on a weekend where they're not working. And most of these folks are working weekend positions. So we need to be expanding the ability to the ballot box, a big lie told at the top level of government by the formerly twice impeached president of the United States permeated the most local people, the most local branches of government. And now, my early voting location from Kennesaw is a 15 minute drive on the freeway into Marietta. I'm privileged enough to have private transportation, but to be on an entire other portion of our already large Cobb County to early vote. A lot of my friends who don't drive I'm having to escort them to the early polling location, or they're having to wait till election day and hope that the line is short. Now, we're lucky that we're not Fulton County, or Gwinnett or DeKalb, which we know why those counties are being targeted. There are a large population of people that typically do not vote Republican and Republicans know that and they target specific counties. SB 202, also made it against the law to hand a bottle of water to somebody standing in line because that is electioneering. The thing was, we already have laws on the books that banned politicking and campaigning within 150 feet of the polls, it was a fix to an issue that was already against the law. It was just a further way to dehumanize people and take the humanity out of voting. So I tell people, even if you're related to the person next to you do not hand Grandma a piece of gum because she asked you for one in the line because you both can be arrested for a misdemeanor, depending on who complains because they think you're gonna vote differently than them now we have the heartbeat bill that passed in 2019. And as soon as Roe v Wade is struck down, that's going to get even more restrictive, from six weeks to completely banned at all. And so we have to protect women's reproductive rights. We have to protect the right to an abortion we have got to protect the right to accessible birth control which they also banned. You cannot receive contraception and birth control through telehealth in Georgia. Now you have to go in person. We saw that this past legislative session we also saw if I'm not making the number wrong, I always get my bill numbers mixed up sometimes. It's so many. I think it was SB 41 created an entire new division for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate election related fraud and crimes. The GBI asked the legislature we don't want to do this. And the Republican legislature replied with Oh, well. So now we're also branding the cost for our taxpaying citizens of Georgia an extra$500,000 a year for two paid positions for the GBI to investigate elections. If there's no elections, those people are sitting, doing nothing and collecting money on behalf of our taxpaying citizens. It doesn't sound fiscally conservative. And it's not it's the only thing that the party really has going for itself. But they're not doing anything fiscally conservative when it comes to the military when it comes to police budgets when it comes to anything that is deemed law and order, which is also racially coded language by the GOP. And so those are just a handful of policies we're seeing at the local level. Before we elected Craig Owens as our new sheriff in Cobb County. A few years ago, we had the 287 G program, and multiple counties across Georgia still have this where the police officer pulling somebody over can run a person's information through immigration and check for citizenship status. We were like, why are people being criminalized. And so what it was also doing was people who had Latino last names were being run through citizenship checks when they have never lived anywhere else other than the State of Georgia. It was profiling at its worst, it was dehumanizing and demoralizing. If your last name was Hernandez. And you're automatically assumed to not be an American. It was completely bogus. And so Craig Owens ended that program. These are the types of policies that we have to get voters out to vote and which is why I work really hard to get 18 year olds out to the polls.
Meral Clarke:
Yes, definitely. We need all of our young folks to stand up and make their voices heard. What would you say to young people? And I've got quite a few years on us. So I can say that, but what would you say to young people? Let's call them Gen Z. What would you say to these folks of what you're apart to get them to the polls when they don't understand how public policy and these decisions by Republicans impact their everyday lives? How do you deal with that?
Austin Heller:
Something I specialize in in my education and my practice of policy is political psychology. I understand why conservative and liberal mindsets think the way they do and why we're seeing the same thing differently. I also understand why people could become disinvested from community when you don't feel like the Government works for you, you have no inkling to go and cast a ballot because you don't feel like your voice is being heard period. And so my entire role with the KSU civic engagement team with getting out the vote with protect the vote GA, our nonprofit organization that I kind of work as a partner sometimes, but our my friend, Hannah started and runs that organization, and I try to show for them, we get young people out to the polls, I asked folks, you're gonna want a family one day, and you want to leave and have an environment for them, regardless of what their last name is, what your net worth is, what your zip code is, in Georgia, what road you're using to get to and from school, you want world class education for your child, you want teachers that are adequately paid, so then they can also put their full energy into the classroom, because they're not focused on are they going to be able to pay rent next month, they can put their focus in on the students that they're teaching. Everybody wants that, but doesn't have a party affiliation. We all want safe neighborhoods, we all want inclusive spaces. And so I reached to Gen Z. And I say, you know, just because it's been this way, it doesn't mean that it has to continue this way. 150 years ago, people would have thought where we are would have been a pipe dream we would have never gotten here. And it takes all of us working as one big movement. You know, young people think like, oh, I voted for the president. I'm like that is amazing. You casting your ballot, you made your voice heard, we saw record number of registered voters in Georgia, and young voters in Georgia and 2020. And because of that Georgia flipped the nation. And we put Joe Biden in office because of Georgia voters. And we did that because we mobilize young people to know like you can be a part of government. But whether or not you agree with her ideologically or not, when Alexandria Ocasio Cortez got elected to Congress at 27, that changed the game for millions of Americans that understood that somebody that looked like them and could relate to them knew how to use FaceTime, knew how to use tic toc knew how to connect to voters that way, it got people out to the polls. That's why the invoice ran so competitively. That's why we worked so hard, because we wanted 20 and 21 year old people to know they could run for office that it's not just for people that have tailored suits by Armani. It is for everyone in the community. And so by representing them that way, they're like, oh, I can be a part of this process. Because a lot of us younger folks, and Gen Z think the government is like an older person's arena. And my favorite quote is, if you don't do politics, politics will do you, and not in a good way. Everyone wants a family and for whatever that means to a person, whether that's by themselves, whether that's a close friend, whether it's a group of friends, whether it's a wife, or a husband, or a partner, children, everybody has family, everybody has friends, and everyone wants them to thrive and succeed. And so that's how you get people out to the polls.
Meral Clarke:
Well, you've also stated that pride is crucial, because it's a celebration and protection of everyone being able to exist as they are, it's celebration of love, no matter who it's for. So tell us more about what pride means to you on a personal level, and how we can all elevate and celebrate our LGBTQ plus community every month of the year.
Austin Heller:
I think a lot of the time people get confused with advocacy of you have to be a part of a community in order to support it. And I love telling people that you don't, you do not have to be LGBTQ plus to be passionate about those rights. You don't have to be black to fight systemic racism in America. You don't have to be Latina, a or Latino or Latina to denounce xenophobia. In America, you don't you can celebrate everyone because of their differences. At the core of pride is a celebration of being able to exist freely to be able to exist without targeting without deformation without anything restricting you from existing the way you are in as you are. And for far too long. Pride was very gay kept and so what it has evolved into a lot of Gen Z who don't identify with the community, go to pride festivals. We're out here in massive numbers of Gen Z and millennials and Gen Y and Gen Xers even out here for pride. We're sharing the graphics, we're electing officials that resonate with that community. And it's simple things post the rainbow flag post pride graphics of number one thing that I love telling people as well as post that you're a safe place for anyone to be who they are, as they are at any moment of time. Let them know like I am a safe place for you to come out. I am a safe place for you to explore. I'm a safe place for you to stumble to fall. And I think if you're really wanting to elevate pride and elevate a specific community, especially if you're not a part of it is to let that community know, I'm don't understand completely. I'm not a part of this. But please let me know how I can help and elevate you to where you can exist, how I've existed as I am, and without restriction.
Meral Clarke:
I completely agree. I truly do. And as a straight ally, you know, I support the Human Rights Campaign and other LGBTQ plus organizations. If someone listening to this podcast wanted to learn more about these issues, support or donate or get those materials that you speak of, where would you send them?
Austin Heller:
I would send them to the human rights campaigns on Instagram at HRC on Facebook on Google Human Rights Campaign. I would also send them to there's a wonderful Instagram page and I think it originated out of Florida because their governor is not supportive of anyone that doesn't align with that. And their Instagram is Gen Z for change. It's not specific to pride, but they do post a lot of informational pieces of information. Each city has for the most part like huge metropolitan areas like Atlanta, New York, LA they have a division of LGBTQ plus affairs, follow that page. That's way to support locally for whatever Metro City is closest to you. The Mayor's Office Mayor Dickens has a Atlanta office of LGBTQ plus affairs in Atlanta. Another great advocate who I've never met in person is Malik brown ma la que brow en in Atlanta. He's worked for multiple mayors for Keisha Lance bottoms now for Andre Dickens, Matt Westmoreland city council member Atlanta is a part of the LGBTQ community and posts a lot of good information. There's tons of resources out here for people that truly do want to be inclusive.
Meral Clarke:
Fantastic, I'm happy to hear that. So finally, and I asked all of my guests this question, tell us a fun fact about yourself something not necessarily related to your activism or your work to promote civil rights activities and protect them to something fun and interesting. Just about Austin. Yeah, everyone tells me this is the hardest question to answer.
Austin Heller:
This is this is the hardest. It's like you don't analyze and debrief like policy writings of like interesting facts about yourself that's not in your repertoire of I think these two things come to mind. And the first factor was my second grade, I would have been my eighth birthday party was owl themed, like alien life form the 80s sitcom Alf. Alpha is probably one of my favorite shows, as silly and ridiculous as it is. I grew up with those DVDs in our household. My parents were born in the 70s. And so they grew up as children in the 80s. And so I watched like silver spoons, Punky Brewster, Webster different strokes. And so ALF was like my favorite. I love that he was so goofy, I thought he was so funny. My grandmother flew from the States every summer when we were stationed in Germany growing up for the military, and she did an alpha cake and it was so funny. That's my Gen X and up funfact. And then my Gen X and below my millennials and Gen Z ers, and I think Gen alpha now is the ones beneath us. I was captain of our competition, co Ed cheerleading team in high school, I lettered in competition cheer, and I am able to do a standing back tuck. And a lot of people don't know that about me is though, I did theater and I also did cheerleading. And yeah, that was my high school activities. And a lot of people who didn't know me before activism, don't know that I can just like do a flip on demand. But
Meral Clarke:
Well, I'm going to insist that you do and for me when we finally meet in person you got it. I can't wait. Well, before we go, I want you to please thank your parents for their service, we are eternally in their debt. Thank you for that. And I also want to mention that I urge all of our listeners to get involved to vote on the ballot from the top down in November and to ensure that we protect our LGBTQ plus excetera non binary brothers and sisters as much as possible. So thank you, Austin for joining us today and sharing more about your critical work to support the LGBTQ plus community and ensure equality and equity. I'm Meral Clarke and on behalf of our team, I'd like to thank everyone for listening to the North Georgia Blue Podcast. To learn more about us and the work that we're doing. Visit us online at Fannin County, Georgia democrats.com Share the North Georgia Blue Podcast with your friends and family. Be sure to subscribe and follow Hello, and if you enjoy our podcasts be a founding patron and friend of the show at North Georgia blue podcast.com/patron Now with three different giving levels to choose from offering cool swag recognition on the show and website and valuable gift cards to help us continue getting into more good trouble.