About twenty-two years ago I was at Disney World in Orlando with my godson who was about seven or eight at the time. We were there for a four day vacation and having a pretty spectacular time. I believe it was our second day in Orlando when this happened... My godson, Bo was ready to go find breakfast somewhere but I was still "in process." I suggested that Bo watch television and stop asking me questions if he planned to EVER get to breakfast. Bo's way of watching TV was to switch channels about every five to ten seconds so I was shaving while listening to five seconds of music, five seconds of commercial followed by five seconds of cartoon, etc. I wasn't even aware I was listening until he clicked past CNN or some other news channel and I heard the words, "...Homosexual activists chanted outside the Capitol..." then a baseball game. I ran into the room and asked Bo to switch back to the channel he just left and I watched the story about some legislation that was being discussed about hate crimes and whether homosexuals should be added. After the report I returned to the sink to finish shaving and then we left for breakfast. Bo wanted to go to IHOP (he had seen five seconds of a commercial and the seed was planted) so we were searching along Miracle Mile because I assumed there was one there somewhere. Out of the blue, with no segue Bo asked a question and I attempted an age appropriate truthful answer (his Mom and I had decided that he wasn't ready to know about my sexuality because he would probably get into fights at school to defend me if he knew but that we would never lie to him and would answer any questions as truthfully as possible.)
Bo: "Bill, what are homosexuals?"
Me: "A...well, you see...it's well...I want to...Let me explain this way..." Actually I probably was more befuddled sounding than that but you get the picture - I stalled trying to get my thoughts together...
Bo: "Bill?"
Me: "So, Bo. You know how you say that you hate girls and that girls are disgusting?"
Bo: "Girls! YUCK!" Then he made these spitting sounds I can't figure out how to spell.
Me: "Yeah, well you feel like that now but probably in a year or two you'll start to feel differently. You may start thinking that girls are kind of nice and like you want to hang out with them, maybe even more than you want to hang out with your guy friends."
Bo: "Not me! I hate girls, I'll never..."
Me: "Bo, just trust me for a minute - let's not talk about you specifically but some of your friends may start wanting to hang out with girls and even more they might want to hold girls' hands and maybe even kiss them."
Bo: Spitting noises again
Me: "And just like girls your age say that boys stink and are stupid? well in a few years they'll start wanting to hang out with boys and maybe even want to kiss them."
Bo: Strangely quiet. I think I may have lost him but then he looked back at me with wrinkled brow like maybe I had just said something inexplicable.
Me: "Okay, well about 90% of boys and girls like to hang out and be close friends with members of the other sex."
Bo: Giggling and covering his mouth "ooooo Bill you said 'sex.'"
Me: "Bo, those boys and girls are called 'heterosexuals' - hetero just means two different genders together."
Bo: "But what is 'homosexual.'"
Bill "well, 'homo' means the same so 'homosexual' means that those people like to be with members of their own group - boys with boys; girls with girls."
Bo: "Well that's me - I'd rather be with other boys."
Me: "Well by 'being with' I mean that they like to hold hands and maybe kiss each other. So homosexuals are guys who like to hold hands and kiss other guys or girls who like to hold hands and kiss other girls. They grow up and want to live together like your Mom and Dad live together. So when someone says 'homosexuals' that's what they are talking about..."
I admit that I was sweating and exhausted by the conversation but also felt a little proud of myself. So I bravely went forward...
Me: "Do you understand? Does that make sense? Any other questions?"
Bo: Turning his head to the side like he was pondering something that did not make sense, "But Bill, why do people hate them?"
My eyes filled with tears and I felt like I wasn't going to be able to answer. I was very emotional - I'm thinking things like "Great FUCKING question!" or "Because people are ASSHOLES?" or "Bo, I AM one!" or "them...them? No it's why do people hate ME about something over which I have no control!?" I took a couple of deep breaths and tried...
Me: "Bo, for some reason a lot of people hate what they don't understand or anything that is 'different.' You remember how we were talking with your Mom and Dad that time about how some White people used to hate Black people and some Black people hated White people? It's kind of the same thing. When you think about it it's kind of stupid for someone to hate someone who they don't even know but it happens sometimes."
Bo: "Bill, can I get the Grand Slam at IHOP?"
and so we left it...why do people hate them...us...and the point of this blog...why do people hate Vegans?
I know that being Vegan is a choice - but similar to my sexuality, what the HELL difference does it make to anyone else if I don't eat products from animals? I mean by my not eating meat I'm not saying you shouldn't eat meat - I have nothing against meat eaters, until recently I was one! Some of my best friends are carnivores. My food choices have as little to do with meat eaters' food choices as my relationship has to do with straight relationships or marriage for that matter. Next thing you know there'll be a constitutional amendment to ban Vegans in Texas and it will be called the "Defense of Meat Eaters Amendment."
You think I'm paranoid? Here's my evidence that Vegans are hated...
1. When I posted on Facebook that I was going to become a Vegan I got a load of grief from friends - some good natured but much of it very negative. Like, "Indians had a name for vegetarians - 'bad hunters.'" Or, "Bill, Bill Bill, why? What's wrong with you?" Lots of people tried to convince me that I wouldn't get enough protein or told me about doctors saying that vegetarians get sick because people are "supposed" to eat meat."
2. Here is a quote from the July GQ magazine, an article called, "Eat No Evil,"
I don't romanticize vegetables. I don't believe in their nobility, nor have I been convinced by those who claim plants have feelings and scream silently when tossed into a pan. (I wouldn't mind if that were true, since it would require vegans to starve themselves to death.)
Really? REALLY? WTF? This guy is writing about ethical eating and he takes a cheap shot at Vegans - why? I don't get it.
3. In a local vegetarian restaurant I saw a card on the bulletin board advertising a support group for Vegans that meets weekly - it was titled "Trying to Be Vegan - We Can Help." Someone had written on it, "Be a Man - Eat Meat, No Support Group Needed." So if you're a Vegan you're not a man? Doesn't it sound like the same shit that gets thrown at Gay men?
4. Just today I was watching a documentary about Dr. Kevorkian and there was an interview with an inmate who got to know Dr. Death in prison. The inmate who admitted that he premeditated murder talked about Dr. K's eating habits like this, "He hardly ever ate meat, he was close to being a vegetarian or as we call them in prison, 'a grazer.'" So even murderers feel comfortable name-calling vegans.
So what is a vegan? Someone who chooses to eat a plant based diet avoiding all animal contributed food. So why do people hate them (us)? I don't know!
