Ethan and I were fortunate enough to attend the world premier of Speciesism The Movie in New York City last week. This fantastic documentary follows writer, director and star of the film, Mark Devries’ journey from what began as an investigation into PETA and their activist campaigns to an exploration of factory farming in the United States. When Devries first encounters the term, “speciesism” it changes the thrust of his search to a journey of understanding and ultimate awakening.

Simply put, speciesism is a belief system that assigns different values, rights, or special considerations to individuals solely on the basis of their species membership. Specifically, speciesism is an assumption of human superiority. Throughout the film, Devries attempts to understand the rationale human beings use to justify their consumption of animal products.  While watching Devries’ exploration I couldn’t help but see the parallels between speciesism and homophobia. Both of these concepts at their core hold a common belief that one group is superior to all other groups and members of the superior group are free to oppress others. If you are not a member of the superior group, you are unworthy of equal treatment, legal status or even moral consideration. As a gay man, this feeling of being “less than” is ever present in my life.

Homophobia, like speciesism, is a learned belief. No child is born thinking about anyone’s sexuality. Children are blind to issues of sexuality. In a country whose founding document clearly states, “All men are created equal,” when laws are passed to block certain parts of society from having full equality, the message gets out that discriminating against that segment is justified. Eventually, that discrimination becomes the unquestioned pervasive societal norm.

Discriminating against anyone for any reason is wrong. Most people would agree that discrimination against someone for something as inherent as handedness or eye color is senseless, yet a person can be fired in 29 out of the 50 United States simply for being gay. Only 13 states and the District of Columbia allow full marriage equality for same sex couples. Four states have civil unions, which by all counts are separate from marriage, but still not equal. This means that in 33 states, marriage equality is illegal. The only reason for this unequal treatment is the belief that gay people do not deserve the same rights as straight people. Regardless of what argument is put forward in an attempt to justify discrimination against members of the LGBTQI community, it can always be summarized in one word: homophobia.

Gary L. Francione, Profession of Law and Nicholas de B. Katzenbach Scholar of Law & Philosophy at Rutgers School of Law famously said, “speciesism is wrong because, like racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-semitism, classism, and all other forms of human discrimination, speciesism involves violence inflicted on members of the moral community where that infliction of violence cannot be morally justified.” As long as the law deems non-humans as less than humans, they will be subjected to the cruel treatment they currently endure. Similarly, as long as there are laws that allow for less than equal treatment of gays and lesbians, there will be people who feel justified in treating us like we are inferior. When the validity of our marriages depends on where we are in the country, we are “less than.” Absent the erroneous belief that being straight is superior, this inequality would be gone. I am not so naïve as to believe this would happen overnight, but I am hopeful that it will happen over time. Not just for gays and lesbians, but for our nonhuman brothers and sisters, too.