People for the Ethical Treatment of Activists

In reporting on lesbian outrage over some moronic TV ads from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, NYC blogger Joe.My.God. made a funny:

Q: How many semi-naked PETA protesters does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Zero. Semi-naked PETA protesters have never changed anything.

Hey-yo! It’s easy to make fun of PETA but still, you gotta love them — no matter how badly they embarrass themselves (“Sea kittens???” The fuck?), they just keep plugging away, standing up for the animals.

We still need that kind of tenacity in the gay rights movement — sure we’ve achieved a lot in Canada but witch-hunts can pop up with ease. Meanwhile, our American friends face a well-oiled machine of hatred that organizes big marches against gay rights, compares us to murderers and will never ever compromise. As for the rest of the world? Don’t get me started!

But tenacity wins: just ask Ken and Jack Saunders-Waller or Washington Post reporter Jose Antonio Vargas, whose feature on gay bloggers highlighted the awesome Pam Spaulding. Her “House Blend” blog is required daily reading — she’s smart, she’s personable and she just keeps plugging away, standing up for queers-of-colour in particular, the human race in general.

PETA could take a few lessons from Pam, even as I’m forced to admit that their latest tactic has certainly caught my eye. Jamie Bamber? I thought the idea was to make me not want meat? Hey-yo!

A former editor of the late, lamented fab magazine, Scott has been writing for Xtra since 2007 on a variety of topics in news pieces, interviews, blogs, reviews and humour pieces. He lives on the Danforth with his boyfriend of 12 years, a manic Jack Russell Terrier, a well-stocked mini-bar and a shelf of toy Daleks.

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