NOTE: Sometimes I start with a title, like this one about not supporting those who do not support gay people (equality) and the post turns into more. This is the case of this post as I began to write about not only those who do not support equality but also companies that partake in cruelty to animals.
It's not always easy being a voice for the voiceless or supporting equality or being vegan and being up to date with who is on the side of your cause and who isn't.
It's also not fun all of the time. "I really love the product". "I can't wait to go shopping there".
Sometimes I read about or listen to friends talk about buying something or going somewhere and I cringe.
We hear from readers all of the time who face the same dilemma.
A coffee house run but religious extremists, or at least promoting churches that are extreme.
A running race supported and promoted by anti-gay religious groups. Restaurants that serve meat, but have amazing vegan food. On this one, we get it. And we are grateful for restaurants who jump into vegan cuisine. Our favorite restaurants are not vegan-only and serve the best vegan food in town.
Politicians, products lines, whole companies.
What to do, what to do?
Coming out as vegan is a good start. You can see the difference this makes in the huge amount of choices we as vegans have not only in restaurants but in markets and non-food stores. Big change just in the past couple of years.
Coming out as a voice for the voiceless is huge too. "I care about these animals or these people, so I am not going to buy your product or run in your race anymore."
If a company wants to make money, they will listen. Maybe not the first time they hear something, or the second. But eventually they will.
Maybe that's why one of the largest pork producers (an industry losing profit) bought out a soy milk/tofu company (an industry gaining profit).
I write about this a lot. When we use our voices to be a voice for those who have none, we change the world.
There are so many examples. One is sitting in our fridge. Several years ago the amazing company White Wave, maker of Silk products, was bought by Dean Foods. Vegan awesomeness meet profiteer of animal cruelty on so many levels. It took us a while to stop buying Silk soy milk and years after the buyout we still purchase Silk creamer. We think about the pigs tortured by Dean Foods all of the time, and yet we still buy Silk soy milk.
This post originally appeared on Dan Hanley's website The Gay Vegans. Republished with permission.
