Sci-Fi Bear Bares for PETA

Battlestar Galactica hottie, Jamie Bamber (a.k.a. Lee Adama, a.k.a Captain Apollo), recently posed for a PETA ad against the killing of Canadian black bears. The bears are shot and killed, then sent to the U.K. to be made into caps for the Queen’s Guard.



Crossposted via Best Gay Blogs.

"Project Runway's" Tim Gunn Exposes Fashion Cruelty in New PETA Video

Openly gay Tim Gunn of Project Runaway says "fur is from the past, from another era".

Gunn wants you, the consumer, to know what animals endure in the name of fashion so that you can make informed decisions before buying clothing and accessories made from fur, wool, and leather.


This is not the first of queer people standing up against animal cruelty, the intersection between queer and animal liberation is alive and well.

Happy ThanksLiving 2008!

Happy ThanksLiving to all QU blog readers, you have truly become part of the extended online family. I am thankful for all your support and insight that you have provided over the course of many months, I look forward to renewed queer activism and spirit in the wake of our defeats this election day. United we stand, divided we fall, queers and allies together as one will bring about true equality as evidenced by the reality of the dreams of the great ones before us like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohatmas Gandhi.

On this day we also must as queers extend our arms and hearts to those who have been so affected by this day we call "thanksgiving" that represents sorrow for millions. I am deeply saddened and in mourning for the millions of Natives of this land who were murdered, raped, and evicted from their homeland. This holiday represents the destruction of a beautiful and wise culture with rich spirituality and history of preserving the land and exploring its beauty and vastness.

Included in the destruction of heritage and culture were queer Natives, commonly referred to as Two-spirits.

http://www.intltwospiritgathering.org/
http://www.nativeout.com

I also am horrified by the continual massacre of beautiful sentient beings that are intelligent and kind only to be murdered in the name of food because they look different and aren't equated with deserving any rights. "Thanksgiving" has become associated with the massacre of hundreds of millions of Turkeys. Beings who are de-beaked, packed so tightly with the inability to move, forced to stand on excrement, having their throats slit while still conscious, and scalded to death in the feather removal tank.



The video above highlights the unacceptable standard practice on factory farms.

"In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up." (Pastor Martin Niemöller)

I won't be part of the "Thanksgiving" tradition which does not honor life and speak up for others. ThanksLiving for me is about honoring others and aspiring to be grateful and committed to a better future. I honor the living tradition of the Natives, and respect the life and dignity of my fellow creatures. Happy ThanksLiving!

Web Spotlight: Against Nature?

In 2006 The Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, opened the first-ever museum exhibition dedicated to gay animals. Parts of the exhibition and information are preserved online. The exhibition title "Against Nature?" is intended to get people to think about their arguments against homosexuality, when it is evident that it is completely natural and seen throughout the animal kingdom.
http://www.nhm.uio.no/againstnature/index.html

"Welcome to California Where Chickens Have More Rights Than Me"

As a queer vegan blogger I probably have a different perspective on this but I felt the need to rant. I wrote about the Black-Gay Blame Game and how it is wrong to single out African-Americans because the majority of that community voted for prop 8. We must understand that all the struggles for liberation have parallels but cannot be equated as each are unique in their own way.

Black people were enslaved, beaten, and subject to some of the most horrendous discrimination in this country. The queer civil rights movement cannot be compared to that movement because it is fundamentally different, there are parallels but equating that both are the same is doing a disservice to both movements. There are struggles blacks have dealt with that gays have not and vice versa.

Similarly this notion that proposition 2 passed (an animal protection bill) is somehow giving animals more rights than LGBT people is ridiculous and downright speciesist (involves assigning different values or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership).

People are holding signs at rallies saying "chickens can spread their wings, but gays can't marry." Six hens to a tiny battery cage where they cannot move, and are forcefully debeaked without pain killers, and excrete on one another is not on the same level with the marriage equality movement. The parallel is both movements strive to bring basic dignities and rights to all, but they are not on the same level playing field.



The routine procedures such as castration, debeaking, caging, force-feeding, and denial of basic natural practices for animals is far from humane, and no chickens do not have more rights than gay people. That is a ridiculous assertion, animals have no rights in our society. The federal law to protect animals even excludes animals raised for food consumption.

I am very much in favor of drawing parallels between struggles for liberation, after all we are all tied to the same goals of basic dignity for our families and livelihoods and we all face a similar oppressor each and every time. The time now is to understand the struggle for equality and to draw parallels but not to point fingers and denigrate one struggle over another.

Transgender Chicken Has Transitioned Successfully

Ok, not exactly an activist alert but it is a Sunday and this is interesting and goes to show how natural gender diversity is in the animal kingdom.

"A hen has changed into a cockerel over the course of a two-year sex-swap process.

Georgina the hen is thought to have damaged an ovary, causing her testosterone levels to soar and effectively transforming the organ into a testicle.

The one-in-10,000 switch has seen the animal develop a cockscomb on its head and its voice break - allowing it to crow each morning.

"Georgina was always a big girl and she was surrounded by other hens for two years before she decided to take on the role of cockerel," said Jane Haworth from the Battery Hen Welfare Trust headquarters in Chulmleigh, North Devon.

"It took around two years but George has a cockscomb and seems a lot happier than she was. I think he looks amazing.

"He always had slightly hairy legs which was a bit of a giveaway. He doesn't lay eggs anymore and crows every morning - it's quite a turnaround." (E-Transgender)

This is not the first I have read about transgender animals and I find it fascinating. It shows there is a strong correlation between queer rights & animal rights in my opinion. What do you all think?

PETA: "Gay School Should Marry Compassion"

"The folks at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) caught word that a gay-friendly high school might be making its way to the city of Chicago, and consequently came up with a unique opportunity to marry compassion for gay people with compassion for all living things. How, you ask? Well, PETA's director of media relations, Michael McGraw, has written to the likely principal of the proposed school, Chad Weiden, to encourage the inclusive institution to adopt an all-vegetarian cafeteria. Here's a portion:

"It is only because of prejudice that animals killed for food on today's factory farms suffer miserable lives and nightmarish deaths. Their feelings are entirely discounted, even though they experience fear, love, grief, joy, and pain, just as all of us do. They are torn from their families and denied every natural urge, forced to live in cramped, filthy warehouses for their entire lives. They will never feel the warmth of the sun on their backs, smell fresh air, or play. Believe it or not, in our "enlightened society," chickens and turkeys' throats are cut while they are still conscious, and they are often scalded to death in defeathering tanks. Pigs' tails and testicles are cut off without any painkillers. When fish are dragged from the ocean depths, they undergo decompression—which causes their internal organs to rupture—before they suffocate.

Leaders of social justice movements have historically recognized that the liberation of one oppressed group is linked to the liberation of other groups. Steven Simmons, a PETA staffer and gay rights activist who died of AIDS back in the mid '90s, wrote, "It's time for us to end this hierarchy of who has the right to live, who deserves not to suffer, who should be respected, [the idea] that there's a limit to the amount of compassion that we can have for our fellow creatures." As you urge your school's students to embrace each unique individual, won't you also please encourage them to have compassion for today's most vulnerable group—animals?"

For more on the article check out the PETA FILES - Freedom From Oppression for ALL at New High School!

As an advocate of queer rights and animal liberation and one who clearly sees the correlation between all our struggles for freedom, I strongly support the concept which would be doubly historic. Pride campus would bring a whole new meaning to the term safe-space.

Crossposted via our fellow queer and OUT veg friend at Good As You.

Vote YES on Prop 2 California!

Make sure to vote NO on Prop 8 in California, and YES on Prop 2!
Keep civil rights legal, while extending more rights to others.

We're Here, We're Queer, We're Penguins - Get Used To It!

"A German zoo has scrapped plans to break up homosexual penguin couples following protests from gay rights groups.

The Bremerhaven Zoo had earlier flown in four female Humboldt penguins in an attempt to encourage three couples discovered to be all male to reproduce.

The zoo originally defended the experiment, claiming that the birds were an endangered species, but following protests from gay rights groups, director Heike Kueck has said that the zoo is abandoning the plan.

She said: “Everyone can live here as they please.”

Kueck said that it was neither her intention nor possible to separate the gay couples by force and interest them in their new female companions.

She added that the penguins had shown little interest in their new female companions but said that the programme could have been started too late in the year.

Gay groups had earlier protested against “the organised and forced harassment through female seductresses” in an open letter to Bremerhaven’s Mayor Joerg Schulz."

On this cute & happy note, don't forget to demand your taxpayer money stop going to fund gay sheep "sexual re-orientation" and murder.

Crossposted Via NC Gay Activist

The Intersection Between Animal Liberation & Queer Liberation

"Animal liberation" and "gay liberation" are two phrases that are rarely heard in the same sentence. But, in fact, the liberation of gay and lesbian people, and indeed the liberation of all people, depends upon the liberation of animals. We must come to understand this, just as we must understand how different forms of bias against people, such as racism and sexism, are interconnected."
(Gay-Straight Animal Rights Alliance)

My Take: My Queer identity is so deeply entangled with my vegan identity, the two go hand in hand. I find that for me Gay Liberation and Animal Liberation are married partners. How can I someone who has struggled and continue to be persecuted by society go out and do the same to someone who is different from me? Queers are different purely based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but ultimately we are all people. We share a common bond of love, emotion, and desire to live out our lives freely and openly. The same applies to animals, they look different and act different but we share with them a yearning to be free, to love, and to take care of our families. I believe it is critical to choose vegetarianism to truly evolve as a human being, our opponents use the same argument to debunk all of our liberation and struggles. They invoke the "word of god" to says gays don't deserve equality or that God put animals here for us to eat. God if one chooses to believe in some sort of spiritual higher power also made Queer humans & animals, s/he also gives the option to eat and live compassionately through the vegetarian option. I encourage all Queers & allies to our struggles for peace and justice to join me in choosing veganism the healthiest, most ethical, and eco-conscious lifestyle on the planet. You already have one "alternative lifestyle", why not add another?

Personal Connections:
"When a New York City tour bus came to a halt and the passengers aboard started hysterically screaming and pointing toward Nate Walker, he and his boyfriend frantically looked for the cause of the commotion. They were sure somebody was getting mugged. It was only when a person on the bus began heckling did they realize they were the cause of the commotion. They had been standing hand in hand.

“We felt like we were animals in a zoo,” Nate told me. “I felt like I was being demeaned and dehumanized. And because of that experience and many other instances of marginalization, I stand in solidarity with all those who are oppressed, including animals. How can you not make that connection?”

"Both vegans and queers are stereotyped. To identify as both in many ways epitomizes marginalization. John Phillips, Executive Director of the League of Humane Voters of New York City explained, “I came out and went vegan at the same time. Some family members worried I would die of protein deficiency and AIDS. They’d wonder: ‘Which is going to kill him first?"
(Satya Mag)


LGBTQ Vegetarian/Vegan Advocacy Organizations & Meet Ups:
(Please note some of these may not currently be active, there are also countless more which I am not aware of, let me know and I will update)

VegOut is a social group for gay, lesbian, bisexual,transgender, and queer-friendly vegetarians and vegetarian wannabees."
The VegOut vegan potluck is held on the fourth Sunday of each month, and don't miss the VegOutings to local restaurants. For more information, call the recorded message at (212) 802-8655

Long Island, NY - Veg PRIDE

San Francisco/East Bay, California: Lesbian Vegetarians Unite! Do you feel alienated and isolated
among your carnivorous friends? Do you long for the support of those who
share your ethical ideals? If so, join us for ongoing lesbian vegetarian
meetings in the East Bay and San Francisco. Diversity welcome. For more information, write to Martikheel@aol.com.

San Diego, California: Soyboys is a new social group for gay and gay-friendly guys who are vegetarian or interested in a vegetarian lifestyle. We meet at least once a month for potlucks, outings to vegetarian (friendly) restaurants and other social events. Please contact Michael for more information. sandiegosoyboys@aol.com.

Boston, MA: The G/L/B Vegetarian
Society meets twice a month for potlucks, restaurant outings, coffeehouse
gatherings, or picnics. For more information, contact Bill at (617) 625-6918.

Washington D.C. Vegout e-mail group.

Houston, TX: Houston Gay/Les Vegetarian Meet Up.

Salt Lake City, Utah: GSARA is the Gay/Straight Animal Rights Alliance, working to promote the awareness and advocacy of a culture free of sexism, racism, heterosexism, speciesism, anti-Semitism, and oppression based on class, religion, age, ethnicity, national origin, or disability.

Sydney, Australia: Ecogirls is a new social and activist group of vegetarian lesbians. "We are 'physically' based in the Sydney metropolitan area but virtually based everywhere." Write to Lynda for more information.

Queer Veggie Links:

Queer & Veg Friendly Travel

Experimentation on Homosexual Sheep

Gay Men Urged to go Vegetarian

The PETA Files: Gay Makeout Tour!

"As far as I’m concerned, sliced to death is sliced to death, whether a slaughterhouse worker or a homophobic bully happens to be holding the knife." (Jasmin Singer)

"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men." (Leonardo Davinci)

CLICK HERE FOR A FREE VEGETARIAN STARTER KIT!