Veganism, is not a Choice; It's a Moral Imperative

We need all people everywhere to be vegan by all peaceful, non-violent means possible.  Our precious, sentient non-human brothers & sisters need this.  Our Mother, Earth, needs this.  We all need this. I do subscribe to the notion that it is possible for a person to go vegan for health or environmental reasons to later understand it from a new perspective such as animal rights & liberation.  So when someone like my friend Jim (an abolitionist vegan) tells me that he's willing to "meet" any omnivore at their level, be it animal rights, personal health, notions of compassion, whatever… I think it’s AMAZING that he does that. That's a choice that works for him, and I wouldn't criticize it or him.

FOR ME:  I was vegetarian before I was vegan.  The main motivation for me dropping the milk, eggs, and honey was that I needed to be consistent.  I had a hard time reconciling my beliefs and actions.  I needed to come to terms with the fact that there is as much (if not, arguably more) suffering in an 8 oz glass of milk as there is in an 8 oz steak.  So I got honest and went vegan because it’s the just thing to do.  I didn’t do it for reasons of compassion—because compassion implies that we don’t  need to behave this way.   Compassion makes us feel good about ourselves, but it lacks the weight and moral imperative that justice demands.  I am vegan because sentient non-humans are owed the same rights as sentient humans.  That’s Justice.  Frankly, though I believe it comes from an earnestly good place, I find the focus on “compassionate choices”  and "kind eating" to be unintentinally undermining and misguided.  While it gets people's attention and sometimes gets them to commit to a vegan diet, it's basis is rooted in an implied belief that this is a CHOICE from benevolent humans to help unfortunate and lesser non-humans.  It's still speciesist in that fundamental assumption.  In the end, where does thinking like that get us? I'll tell you- we get famous, "fad-vegans" like Ginnifer Goodwin & Natalie Portman who publicly and famously "Stop being vegan."  Or Alicia Silverstone, THE KIND DIET, author and super-celebrity vegan, who admits that she'll sometimes eat a Burger King veggie burger, even though she knows it has egg whites in it! (There's too much there in that one to get into...)  While, arguably, these folks never were truly vegan (they were just compassionate folks who ate a plant based-diet for a period of time) their public reversal sets the movement way back by reinforcing the unfounded belief that Veganism, as a diet, is unhealthy or unsustainable.

As a gay men, I understand from our cultural history that the eons of a secret underground culture of back-alley entryways to secret clubs, marriages of convenience, "beards" and faghags never advanced the rights of LGBT persons an iota.  Then we stopped hiding.  We came out.  We embraced our names and labels.  And while there was initial hatred and a violent backlash against our unabashed identity, we eventually (and in a relatively very short amount of time) have gained mainstream recognition and acceptance so that a majority of Americans now believe that LGBT persons should be allowed to marry and have equal rights.  We didn't hide our names: We embraced the label.  That's why I'm not a "veggie boy".  I'm a VEGAN.  "Veggie" is a term designed to keep us in the closet.  We need to come out.  We need to be visible. 

I know that these are seriously controversial issues within the vegan community.  I know that people get very upset when some of us use terms like "Abolitionist" or "New Welfarism".  I never use such terms with the intent to offend or harm another person-- of course not! Vegans and Veganism is never about violence or offending and hurting others.  But I think it's important for folks to get really clear about where their motivations are coming from, what and whom we all choose to support, and whether or not those choices are consistent and aligned with what we believe.  I also recognize that we are such a small (yet rapidly growing) community and when events like this weekend's veggie pride parade in New York City are few and far between, its tempting to want to just go, put aside our differences and lump everyone together under one big "veggie" umbrella.  But over 100 years of welfare promotion since Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE has led to nothing but a worsened condition for animals on this planet.  We need to change direction and trajectory as individuals and as a movement. We need to own the identity as VEGANS.  We need to correct those who hold to a confused belief that this is a choice of compassion and explain that it's an imperative of JUSTICE.  

I can't wait until the day when we're all in the same page about all of this, and I believe that day will come a lot sooner than we might think.   But for now, as a non-violent abolitionist vegan gay man opposed to non-human slavery and use, I cannot in good conscience stand with those who believe the problem is welfare and treatment.  It confuses our message to the masses and leads people down a doomed path that approaches Veganism as something that it is not: a choice.  It is a moral imperative.

"You're a Vegan? Oh my gosh, what do you eat?"

This is a very common question I get. Sometimes it's presented in it's alternate form of, "What do you eat for protein?" As if, the only reason we eat animals is for their protein?? Please! Let's be honest; Most of us eat animals' flesh because it tastes good. For those of us who don't particularly like the taste of meat (or, chicken, turkey, fish, etc...) we often eat it in spite of our distaste for it because a) it's conveniently available and everywhere and b) because we're habituated to eating it. Let's get to the protein issue right away so we can put this "myth" that the idea source of protein is the flesh of animals. Before going vegetarian and then vegan, I did not know these basic facts about plant-derived sources of protein;

* Tofu, ½ cup= 20 grams protein
* Soy milk, 1 cup = 6-10 grams (depends on manufacturer)
* Most beans (black, pinto, lentils, etc) ~ 7-10 g protein per 1/2 C cooked beans
* Soy beans, ½ cup cooked = 14 grams protein
* Split peas, ½ cup cooked = 8 grams
* Peanut butter, 2 Tablespoons - 8 grams protein
* Almonds, ¼ cup = 8 grams
* Peanuts, ¼ cup = 9 grams
* Cashews, ¼ cup = 5 grams
* Pecans, ¼ cup = 2.5 grams
* Sunflower seeds, ¼ cup = 6 grams
* Pumpkin seeds, ¼ cup = 8 grams
* Flax seeds ¼ cup = 8 grams

As you can see, between the nuts, Tofu, Tempeh, Seitan, and beans, I'm getting plenty of protein in my diet. I've actually been keeping a written record of it and I'm getting more protein now than I did when I ate meat.

Some people complain that these nutrient rich plant-based sources of protein come with a decent fat content. They do. So does meat. Here's the rub; Unlike meats (even the so-called "lean-meats") the fats that come with nuts, seeds, beans and the most plant-derived sources of food are the "good fats". We need these in our diet for our bodies to function properly. The healthy omegas-/ long-chain fatty acids are essential to human body function (hence they're called "Essential Fatty Acids" or, EFA's.) EFA's are not present in meat (with the exception of certain fish) and can only be derived from plant proteins. In addition to the "bad fat" vs. "good fat" advantage, a plant-based diet comes without the dangerous cholesterol that meat and animal-derived fats bring. Since a human omnivore's source for dietary cholesterol is animal fats, if you cut out the flesh, butter, milk, eggs, etc... there is no significant dietary intake of cholesterol. I am a living example of this, as I will share:

AS AN OMNIVORE: I weighed 210 lbs and my Total Cholesterol was a very high 215 mg/dL and my HDL (low cholesterol) was too low at 25 mg/dL. Most concerning, my ratio was over 8:1 which is very dangerous. [A word about the Cholesterol Ratio: Cholesterol ratio has been useful as a predictor of heart disease risk. You can calculate your cholesterol ratio by dividing your high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good") cholesterol into your total cholesterol. For example, if your total cholesterol is 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) and your HDL cholesterol is 50 mg/dL, your cholesterol ratio is 4-to-1. The goal is to keep your cholesterol ratio below 5-to-1. A higher ratio indicates a higher risk of heart disease; a lower ratio indicates a lower risk.]

So, after trying Niacin my numbers didn't budge. I started Liptor, which (after 6 months) took my total cholesterol down to a much better 165 mg/dL and bumped my HDL up to 35. Not bad... so my ratio went to a much better 4:1.

AS A VEGETARIAN: I stopped taking my Liptor under advice of my family physician. After just three months of a strict vegetarian diet (note: NOT Vegan; there were still eggs and dairy in there) my Total Cholesterol went to 135 mg/dL, my HDL went up to 42 giving me a ratio of 3:1. That's right; My ratio went lower than it was when I was on Lipitor! And after years of diet, meds, exercise, I finally got my HDL up over 40. (I am due for routine bloodwork in the next few weeks and I'll share the results with you when I get them)

My point is simple. Some of this is just genetic. I have a family history of heart disease and hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol). The way my body metabolizes cholesterol is certainly under the influence of some genetic predispositions but I can keep myself cardiac-safe and heart-smart by simply not ingesting cholesterol. By not eating animals and products derived from them, I can achieve this without the need for medication.

Many vegan abolitionists take issue with vegans like I who advocate a vegan diet for the health benefits it confers. They do so because they feel that this detracts from what should be the overriding issue at hand; The immorality of the taking of a life of a sentient, feeling, emotional, conscious being for our own pleasure. Indeed, I agree that is the overriding principle at the heart of Veganism and Ahimsa. Orthodox Judaism teaches a concept that people can begin an undertaking for misguided reasons but that with enough time and repetition the adherence is eventually perpetuated for the right reasons." As a physician, I feel strongly that principle of Ahimsa extends to one's ability to help others become less violent towards themselves. Ingesting animal flesh can be very toxic to our bodies. The fats and cholesterols are irrefutably the leading dietary source for epidemics of heart disease, high cholesterol and obesity. So in pointing out the health advantages of switching to a plant-based diet achieves the end of Ahimsa, even if the enticement/ motivation used is somewhat self-serving. And I believe that even if one undertakes a vegan diet for health considerations, their adherance to it will eventually come to include the important central concept of Ahimsa- towards the sparing of animal torture/cruelty, and sparing the violence to their own bodies.