Mike and I had an amazing weekend over the Memorial Day holiday as we sold vegan goods and vegan cookbooks at the Boulder Creek Festival in our Cruelty-Free World booth. We were honestly blown away by the amount of people who came by to see us: old friends, fellow activists, and a ton of people who follow this blog or are connected with us on Twitter of Facebook.
Our hearts were full. Still are. We are incredibly grateful for all of the support we get.
Our booth can also be a lightning rod for those opposed to gay people and those who are fearful of vegans (or veganism, vegetarianism, anything like that). We got our fair share of it this weekend.
Mike and I talk about this a lot. Not only the negativity we get from those who do not know us, but what we get from other activists. We don't see it as much in the human rights world, HIV/AIDS world or LGBTQ world compared to the animal rights/vegan world. Our hope is that we can get along enough with others to support other activists and to rock-n-roll with making the world a better place for all living beings.
As Mike said to another veg couple judging us, "we're all on the same side!".
There is a lot of judgement in activist communities. As many of our readers are new to veganism, animal rights, or activism in general, we suggest you stay away from this. Not everyone is going to work like you work, or agree with how your activism looks. We always think that it is better to keep our eyes on the prize(s) and not engage in petty judgement or not being nice to others. Even when unkindness hits us right in the face.
The millions of animals and humans who suffer daily need a strong, passionate voice as they have no voice. When we focus on that, good happens. Nothing good comes from judging others or being unkind to others.
There are many disagreements in activist communities. They are not as strong as what we all want in ending suffering, torture, pain and fear.
Thank you for reading this and thank you for your support. I love feedback. You can post a comment or email me at vegandude@msn.com
Hi Dan,
ReplyDeleteI found you today on FB through a post from Sexy Vegan...As a lesbian, I am always looking for like minded people to follow on FB, etc.
For me, I am fortunate to live in a City where we find very little negativity about being lesbians, but once we went vegan, all hell broke loose.
We've only been vegan since Jan. 4, 2012. We are still young. But I am amzed by how many people immediately starts telling me why I need to eat meat, cheese, etc. Some even get angry with me. Because I say I'm a vegan I'm judging them. Maybe I am a little but I respect their decision.
Anyway, thank you for being out there. More of us need ot stand up and be proud and out, both as gay people and as vegans.
Take care,
Margaret Sommer
Who could possibly judge you two? That is a major character flaw on their part.
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how much I love you! Every post inspires me and reminds me to be nicer. Wish I was closer so I could have met you also.
ReplyDeleteSuzy! You made my day. Thank you so much for your sweet words!
ReplyDeleteThanks for being an activist (with all the many activism hats) and for blogging. It is so true that it can be hard to get away from the negativity, especially when we are all supposed to share a veg view (although it can take so many delightful forms!). Sadly, I think some people are drawn to certain activism for some pretty toxic reasons. I'm so glad you came away from the weekend with a full heart and thanks for the reminder that we all need to show compassion to all beings (humans too). Keep being awesome!
ReplyDeleteWhat amazes me that there is a bunch of people who call themselves vegan, but are hatefull against LGBT people or even more hilarious, a lesbian vegan who speaks kind of bad against transgender people
ReplyDelete