Gay vegans?

[etherspin]

I think its gotta be this forum! It seemed like there was a massive proportion of gay/bi peeps on the Vegan Freak forums when they were in full swing and certainly higher than 10%/15% on all the other vegan forums I've been on.
My anecdotal account of things is that there are many more openly gay and bi people in the vegan community than the community in general.
I'd guess its for two reasons
1. Gays and Bi sexuals cop a tonne of crap, are marginalised and can often understand the parallels between human and animal suffering.
2. Anyone who admits , embraces their homo/bisexuality and "comes out" obviously does not shirk being true to their ethics and true self because something is different or frowned on by their family and friends

[Konstantin]

I think its gotta be this forum! It seemed like there was a massive proportion of gay/bi peeps on the Vegan Freak forums when they were in full swing and certainly higher than 10%/15% on all the other vegan forums I've been on.
My anecdotal account of things is that there are many more openly gay and bi people in the vegan community than the community in general.
I'd guess its for two reasons
1. Gays and Bi sexuals cop a tonne of crap, are marginalised and can often understand the parallels between human and animal suffering.
2. Anyone who admits , embraces their homo/bisexuality and "comes out" obviously does not shirk being true to their ethics and true self because something is different or frowned on by their family and friends

I would imagine that your typical ethical vegan is a bit more tolerant of someone's sexuality than your average meat eater. Not all meat eaters are homophobes, but in my experience those most critical of veganism are also most homophobic.

[Gulliver]

All though I prefer to be called queer....since gay has become a target market group from everything from liquor to automobiles and real estate.

I refuse to be a "lifestyle".

I used to walk in the gay pride march...until it turned into a gay pride parade.

Before I come across as some sort of dour, crabby sourpuss I think pride parades/gay have a purpose...but I found a pride march a more powerful statement.

I usually go back and forth between assimilationist and isolationist. It's heterophobia that keeps me from being in isolationist. I have to admit if I could find a local, vegan, LGBT owned market I'd rather put my money in their pockets than the local national chain.

I hate the term queer, whilst emotional and sexual orientation aren't lifestyle choices, electing which label is applied to you is. For one thing, being lesbian, gay or bisexual is not a gender issue in the same way that being transgender (pan-gender, post-gender...) is, with the latter being mixed with intersex people at an arbitrary level. They are two very separate things. I am gay and I am not transphobic; I was a director of a LGBT charity for two years (and actually tried to get them to support asexual people as well, but they said no because "they don't have the same kind of problems"). I don't like the term queer; it's artificial and a bit too "reclaiming insults as our own" for my liking.

I also don't like the term "pride" used in reference to LGBT[AUP] (aka Queer)... issues. How can you be proud of something and say it was not a choice at the same time? My objection, of course, is entirely linguistic, but never mind. I agree with you about the Pride March thing being a load of crap. Why am I supposed to feel Proud of a community that gets drunk and does a load of poppers in the middle of the day? How do silver hotpants show that gay men are normal "just like everyone else"?

Anyway, I am a gay vegan and I have a friend who is vegan and lesbian. So that's two.

[tonyboloni]

Gulliver,

All valid points.

I never thought about the word queer as reclaiming insults for my own use; a point well put by you. Until I can find something else that I like better I'll continue to self reference as queer.

I'm a gay man and I'm supposed to have silver hots pants? Dang it; another identifier missed.

Can I get a list from someone of what I'm supposed to be like, dress like, think like, love like? It's so much easier if someone just tells me rather than me taking a journey of self discovery. (Please note: previous statement was meant as humor; not to be taken seriously).