Debate in the US on the failure to reject Proposition 8 in California that bans gay marriage interests the Grumpy Vegan and his study of social movements and political organizing. <\/p>\n
For example, a recent NEWSWEEK<\/em><\/a> article noted <\/p>\n One reason that tolerance for gay marriage and civil unions may be on the rise is that a growing number of Americans say they know someone who’s gay. While in 1994, a NEWSWEEK Poll found that only 53 percent of those questioned knew a gay or lesbian person, that figure today is 78 percent. Drilling down a bit more, 38 percent of adults work with someone gay, 33 percent have a gay family member and 66 percent have a gay friend or acquaintance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, the more that people know gay people the less likely they are to be intolerant of them. <\/p>\n This makes the Grumpy Vegan wonder why it is that, according to a 2008 survey published by the UK Food Standards Agency, 2% of respondents were found to be “completely vegetarian” and an additional 5% “partly vegetarian.” <\/p>\n Given the more than three decades of activity by the vegan\/vegetarian animal rights\/welfare movement it’s not unreasonable to ask why the number of vegetarians\/vegans in the UK isn’t more? It surely can’t be because — unlike out gay people who appear to be generally well liked — out vegans\/vegetarians are not liked? <\/p>\n Yes, there’s a complex bundle of issues here but it does make one wonder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Debate in the US on the failure to reject Proposition 8 in California that bans gay marriage interests the Grumpy Vegan and his study of social movements and political organizing. For example, a recent NEWSWEEK article noted One reason that … Continue reading