Gay Rights or Animal Rights? It´s Not One or the Other

As the post-election celebrations gave way to morning-after punditry, some observers of California´s hotly contested ballot measures were left scratching their heads. Proposition 2 passed, so we´ll have a phasing out of battery cages for hens, gestation crates for pigs and veal crates for baby cows. But Proposition 8, the initiative to ban the marriages of same-sex couples in the state, also passed.

That a ban on gay marriage would be approved in a bastion of progressive thinking like California was certainly outrageous. Yet so are the comments now being made by the news media and some disgruntled Prop 8 opponents: "Chickens rank above gays with California voters," "Californians Like Chickens More Than Gay People" and "California: Giving more rights to chickens and pigs than people...?" are just a few of the news and blog headlines that range from the hurtful to the patently absurd. It is ridiculous to suggest that any animal imprisoned in a factory farm—where he or she will endure a brief existence followed by a terrifying death—enjoys anything resembling a life, while gay people, though certainly discriminated against, have an abundance of rights and freedoms.

Although I certainly understand the anger caused by the passing of Prop 8 here in California, I don´t believe it´s reasonable to compare it with Prop 2, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, an animal-welfare issue. One is about marriage; the other is about inflicting cruelty upon the helpless.

This election was not a one-or-the-other situation. I voted for Prop 2 and against Prop 8, and I stood shoulder to shoulder with No on Prop 8 campaigners while holding my "Yes on Prop 2" sign. There was solidarity among us as we all campaigned for a better world. I was dismayed that Prop 8 passed, but I celebrated the victory for animals—beings who are trapped inside intensive-confinement devices and can barely move.

Abusing animals is always wrong, just as discriminating against humans is always wrong. Why should one oppressed group express their anger by targeting another oppressed group? (I don´t believe there are any beings on this planet more oppressed than farmed animals, who are bred, raised, confined, mutilated and slaughtered at a rate of 55 billion per year worldwide.)

We might also consider the direct connection between the oppression of human beings and the oppression of non-human animals, whether it´s how the domestication of animals heralded the human slave trade, or the relationship between the exploitation of animals and the exploitation of women.

Moreover, the very fact that people are picking on Prop 2 rather than one of the many other measures on the California ballot underscores the low regard many people have for the animals they eat. After all, no one is complaining that voters care more about veterans than gays because Prop 12, the Veterans Bond Act, passed, or that people care more about children than gays because Prop 3, the Children´s Hospital Bond Act, passed. No, they target chickens, pigs and cows because, after all, "they´re just animals," and it´s so much easier to victimize a group that can´t speak up for themselves.

While gay people have a voice, animals inside factory farms do not: they rely on compassionate individuals to speak out for them. I can only hope that the same people who are disparaging the passage of Prop 2 will see that demeaning animals does not further gay rights … that human liberation and animal liberation are inextricably linked.

Mark Hawthorne is the author of Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism (www.strikingattheroots.com). For more of Mark´s writing, see his blog at http://strikingattheroots.wordpress.com/