How Vegans Got Folded Into the Right-Wing Response to the Coronavirus

Of ‘bunny huggers’ and rabbit holes, losing allies, and finding myself after the pandemic

Marla Rose
Tenderly
Published in
10 min readMay 19, 2020

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Illustration: John Beske

Before I can tell you this story, I have to tell you a little bit about me. I promise it won’t be too much. I want you to know that I am someone who believes that not everything has an answer, not everything can be charted, graphed, and explained. I believe that our world has mysteries and I accept that uncertainty is part of the human experience. My own discomfort with some of the aesthetic aspects aside, I could also probably be called a hippie, though a Generation X one — meaning I vastly prefer The Cure to The Doors, I love a good asymmetrical haircut, and I’ve never found a better PG response to the disappointments in life than a sighed, “Oh, whatever.”

Advocating for veganism in the 1990s with a homemade sign. Photos: Marla Rose

That said, the flower child impulse in me is strong.

My natural persuasion is to be on the side of justice, which is why I am a vegan, feminist activist and have been since way before any of these became slogans for…

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