A path to L.O.V.E.

October 17, 2007. Earlier that evening, I had spoken with a group of budding pig farmers in eastern Washington state. I was working full time as the Western Outreach Coordinator for Vegan Outreach, had daily experience in fielding questions from skeptical omnivores about animal suffering and cruelty, and had answered every question “by the book,” so why was it that nothing I said had seemed to get through? And why, I wondered, did I feel like that in small ways every day in my conversations with omnivores about veganism?

That night, sitting in my car replaying and unpacking all these conversations in my head, I realized that what I thought I thought about veganism didn’t mesh with how I truly felt. I had the sudden realization that suffering and cruelty are symptoms of a deeper problem. That moment started me on the path to L.O.V.E.

When Miranda and I first started talking about veganism from within the framework of oppression, it was exciting and lonely: exciting because we could finally articulate the connection we always knew was there between speciesism and the other forms of oppression we were working against, lonely because we didn’t know anybody else who felt the same way.

As it turned out, there were plenty of people who did feel this way. We read The Dreaded Comparison. We discovered the great writers at The Vegan Ideal and the Vegans of Color blogs. And then we found out Jenna felt the same way. And Steven. Far from being alone, we had joined a growing movement!

And yet there was something missing. There was no place where a person could learn the whys and hows of veganism in a way consistent with anti-oppression. There was no place that provided resources and other support for activists in this movement. So here we are today, creating this community to support those spreading the anti-oppression view of veganism.

I hope this blog, our web site and mailing list will be jumping off points for a continuing conversation and learning about veganism as anti-oppression. I invite you to participate in the discussion, challenge our ideas and your own, and see where it takes us all.