Animal Rights - Change.org: Gay Animal Rights Activist Brutally Attacked

Gay Animal Rights Activist Brutally Attacked

categories: Activism and Actions, Oppression Connections

Published January 02, 2009 @ 12:07PM PT

I don't know Nathan Runkle personally. We've never officially met. But I certainly know of him and his work with Mercy for Animals, which he founded when he was just 15 years old. He's the dedicated activist featured in the trailer to the documentary Fowl Play, to which I directed you a couple weeks ago. When I included him in an e-mail on Tuesday, about the last chance for voting on the Ideas project, I received an auto-reply indicating that he wasn't responding to e-mails because of a medical emergency. I worried and hoped everything was all right, but didn't know anything about what was going on.

Now I do. And now I'm nauseous. I just read on SuperWeed that Nathan Runkle, an activist as peaceful as they come, was viciously attacked last weekend in a gay bashing. Upon reading about this physical attack, I found myself feeling silly for having been upset last night and this morning over discovery of a forum thread in which people were calling me harsh names and raving about how much they hate me. This news puts a verbal attack like that into serious perspective. Now I'm just angry as hell on Nathan's behalf that people are so capable of not only expressing but acting on unwarranted hatred against strangers.

You can read the press release regarding the attack here. Pattrice Jones has written at SuperWeed about what we can do in response:

A lot of people in the AR movement have been calling me, wondering what we can do. Gay bashing is a lot like rape in that it’s especially important to be mindful of what the victim wants when framing a response. So, first, we can all look out for what Nathan and Mercy for Animals say about what should be done. Next, we can use informed inference to figure out what else might be appropriate.

The [Mercy for Animals] press release says that Nathan wants sexual orientation included in Ohio’s hate crimes legislation. So, one thing that those of us who know and love — or just know of and respect — Nathan can do is join the effort to make that happen.

Next, we know that Mercy for Animals, as the press release states, “has long worked to bridge the gap between the common prejudices which lead to oppression and abuses faced by both animals and minorities.” MFA has marched in gay pride parades carrying a banner reading “NO ONE IS FREE WHILE OTHERS ARE OPPRESSED” and has picketed gay rodeos.

So, if you’re somebody who cares about or works on LGBTQ issues but has not (yet) integrated the animals into your analysis of oppression, let this attack on a gay man who has dedicated himself to animal rights motivate you to educate yourself about the connections. And, if you’re a straight animal liberationist or veg*n advocate who hasn’t thought deeply about your heterosexual privilege and what obligations you might have to divest yourself of that, let this near-deadly attack on a gay animal advocate remind you (if Proposition 8 and Obama’s selection of a homophobic preacher to speak at his inauguration did not) that homophobia is still alive and dangerous.

In both instances: Educate yourself about the intersections and then figure out how you might integrate what you learn into your activism and your daily life. Those of us who are already hip to that particular intersection ought to realize that there’s always more for us to learn too. Finally, all of us can be inspired by Nathan’s relentless activism and take up the charge to do just a little bit more while he’s recovering from this terrible trauma.

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Photo: Rescue of a discarded hen, left for dead and later named Hope, during a Mercy for Animals egg farm investigation.

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this is a digusting way for people to act toward one who is different from them.although I am not gay or a gay activits,I am a believer that all humans should be treated with respect,regardless of their sexual orientation,religion,age,race,etc.
The guy sounds like a sweet kind person who was resuing an animal for God's sake!
Lets start practicing empathy!

Posted by Heather Koelle on 01/02/2009 @ 12:17PM PT
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This is a terrible thing to hear! Nathan is a wonderful person who didn't deserve to be attacked by anyone for any reason. It is true that it's all one struggle.

Posted by Glenn Gaetz on 01/02/2009 @ 12:49PM PT
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Terrible news. Nathan deserves respect and admiration. It is always the people who talk about peace that get beat down. Socrates, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr, Lennon, ... Something about peace, love, and understanding that offends violent people. We are pulling for you Nathan

Posted by Dave Warwak on 01/02/2009 @ 12:56PM PT
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NATHAN!! Nooo :( Get better soon!!

Posted by Michelle Taylor on 01/02/2009 @ 03:25PM PT
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Thankyou for posting this.

Posted by Jennifer Calkins on 01/02/2009 @ 03:50PM PT
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I'm not so sure that you should minimize your feelings about a hateful verbal attack on you in light of this physical attack on Nathan. Doesn't hate spread and grow with speech?

Posted by Sue G. on 01/02/2009 @ 04:13PM PT
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What a shame! A very important posting, thank you Stephanie!

Posted by clanie ... on 01/02/2009 @ 04:27PM PT
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I hope Nathan will get well soon, too. Thank you, Stephanie for this posting. And thank you for keeping writing. I love your articles and what you stand up for. Those viscious attackers really gone too far.

Posted by CF Tseng on 01/03/2009 @ 04:57AM PT
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This comes to show you that we all need to look out for one another. Gay or straight we are all the same.

Posted by Xavier Von Otwell on 01/03/2009 @ 06:57AM PT
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Thanks for writing about this. And thanks for all you do. And thanks go out to Nathan for all he does.

If you're interested, his presentation about web research (that he gave at Let Live) is available onilne: http://vimeo.com/2614515
His passion, dedication, and respect are evidenced in that video.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault on 01/03/2009 @ 07:48AM PT
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Well, I think anger is a kind of violence.
Anyway... I just came back from a discussion on the Sustainable Food blog, and I'll tell you *that* put *me* into perspective because there the blogger said she "doesn't want to hear" any arguments for against eating meat unless the person arguing against her believes that all carnivores should give up meat. Of course that would be nice, but that would be rather impossible. Well, my point is that it's good to see this blog actually caring about other issues instead of just arguing for the sake of winning and saying, "I'm going to get angry if you say one more word, so that's the end of this discussion."

Posted by Luella - on 01/04/2009 @ 05:41PM PT
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This is so disturbing!! People sicken me. I hope Nathan gets well very soon. I love Mercy For Animals so much.

Posted by Natasha Polychuk on 01/06/2009 @ 02:12PM PT
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I hope he gets well very soon! We need more compassionate, brave people like himself.

Posted by Melissa Buchanan on 01/09/2009 @ 08:47PM PT
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Author Biography

Stephanie Ernst: St. Louis, MO; Stephanie is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull.