Politicians often leverage their past valor to further their careers. It is a way to demonstrate to their constituency their willingness to make personal sacrifices.  It has proved to be an effective tool. The war hero image propelled the likes of JFK and Teddy Roosevelt into office. Politicians can also use victim status to their advantage. In the case of Donald Trump, being the target of political persecution raised his stature in the eyes of many.

Mark Pocan, the first openly gay U.S. congressman, is another example of someone who launched a successful political career in large part due to his victim status. He has repeatedly recounted a tale of being gay bashed in 1989 in Madison, Wisconsin, as the reason that he became active in politics. He says that he was physically attacked with a baseball bat in an incident that left him bloody and unconscious.  It garnered him sufficient support in the Madison LGBTQ community, which got him elected to local office and later to Congress. However, like similar cases of stolen valor, his might be called a case of stolen victimhood.

The police report of the incident contradicts Pocan’s later descriptions of the incident in an interview with Metro Weekly in 2017. When asked if he ever experienced any problems as a gay man, he replied,

I was leaving one of the gay bars in Madison, and two people followed me. And right on the side of State Street, the main drag in Madison, between the Capitol and the university, they beat me with a baseball bat, called me ‘faggot,’ all those things. I was knocked unconscious and had to be taken to the hospital to get some stitches.

The police report of the incident does not mention an assailant beating him with a baseball bat and knocking him unconscious. The report does state that Pocan’s story changed several times, and physical evidence “did not coincide.” It reads as follows:

Officer Monroe and I were dispatched to Mall Books regarding disturbance about to start again. Upon arrival contacted Pocan who was bleeding from cuts over & below right eye and from nose. Pocan was intoxicated. He did not want to file a complaint. He stated that a white male and black male had been ‘picking’ on him and later attacked him behind Mall Books. Pocan’s story changed several times, and physical evidence did not coincide. His wallet was missing, and he stated that he did not know if his assailants had taken it. He did not wish to sign a complaint. He did not wish medical attention; however, he later agreed to go to St. Mary’s ER where we conveyed him and released him to their personnel.

The report seems to be at odds with the story that Pocan told in subsequent years. Most troubling about Pocan’s story is that it appears eerily like an incident that did occur at about the same time in which a white youth was attacked by black youths with a baseball bat in Pocan’s hometown of Kenosha. Did Pocan enhance his own story to include being knocked unconscious with a baseball bat after he heard about the Kenosha attack? Did he cynically use it to gather sympathy from the Madison LGBTQ community? I will let the reader decide if Pocan has been truthful, or leans more to the Jussie Smollett version of the “truth.”

Image: Public domain.