Our Queer Leather Community may not be dying off, but millions of innocent creatures are still slaughtered each year in order to sate vanity's hunger! This queer vegan has never been able to wrap his head around the concept of butchering countless animals in the name of charity, to save countless other (human) animals. Why must such pointless carnage continue, when there are compassionate alternatives that will NOT impact fund-raising in any negative way? In fact, the excellent karma to CEASE this slaughter will most likely INCREASE the funds gained.

The etymology of word "animal" derives from the Latin "anima," which means "a living being, a soul". These dear souls deserve BETTER than their present treatment of mass confinement, terror and murder. NO ONE in this nation is unaware these days, of the ugly torment (in so many ways) that is part and parcel of our animal factories...whether to produce food OR garment. I find it ABHORRENT that brazen vanity is the only justification for their slaughter.

Why is our LGBT Community even PARTICIPATING in this animal holocaust, when we can easily switch to synthetics? Granted, there are issues of pollution and global slave labor when it comes to mass production of ANY clothing, but at least we'd eliminate the senseless death of Gaia's beloved fauna. Horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, etc. are all delightful creatures whose innocence give us joy, friendship, and protection...if only we care enough to love them back, or even simply LIKE them.

It is clear to me that this leather fad took off as a clever marketing ploy BY the leather industry, to grab a chunk of the lucrative gay market. Sadly, they succeeded, at the cost of much innocent life...just like the alcohol and tobacco financiers preceding them.

Imagine our Leather Community switching to SYNTHETIC versions. They could take PRIDE in the scent of "pleather" as a bold olfactory statement that no animal was killed in their social and charitable endeavors! While one's duds may not SMELL like leather (though I'm sure this, too, can be rectified through modern chemistry: maybe Liz Taylor could take a crack at it), one can still DRESS like leather, LOOK like leather, and ACT like leather. The parties, the events, the charitable causes will continue as usual, with the added grace that zillions of Goddess's creatures were SPARED from the slaughterhouse.

In these right-wing times when eating meat is seen as a sign of Amerikan patriotism (and those who don't are called commies or worse), it is especially difficult to speak out against these needless killings, whether for food, sport, or clothing. I'm sure I'll take a lot of flack from various bar patrons who read this letter...but I have grown tired of quietly sitting back, derided and excluded simply for not wearing leather.

Perhaps I take this all a bit too personally, for my Lakota name IS "Little Pony". Then again, perhaps I am so named in order to speak out against this global massacre of the Truly Innocent: our long-suffering brothers and sisters who've been tending this planet long, long before we humans ever arrived.