Gary Francione

In Their Own Words

Gary Francione has this to say ...

Gary Francione
Co-director, Rutgers University Animal Rights Law Center

"I despise 'animal welfare.' That's like saying, 'Let's beat the slaves three times a week instead of five times a week'."
Quoted in "As Threats of Violence Escalate, Primate Researchers Stand Firm", Chronicle of Higher Education, Washington, DC; Nov. 12, 1999.

"The theory of animal rights is simply not consistent with the theory of animal welfare or other approaches that reject the rights view and, more importantly, embrace animal exploitation. Animal rights means dramatic social changes for humans and non-humans alike; if our bourgeois values prevent us from accepting those changes, then we have no right to call ourselves advocates of animal rights."
The Animals' Voice, Vol. 4, No. 2.

"Not only are the philosophies of animal rights and animal welfare separated by irreconcilable differences ... the enactment of animal welfare reforms actually impedes the achievement of animal rights. Welfare reforms, by their very nature, can only serve to retard the pace at which animal rights goals are achieved."
Francione, with Tom Regan, in "A Movement's Means Creates Its Ends," The Animals' Agenda, January/February, 1992.

"If an animal has any rights at all, it's got the right not to be eaten."
Speech, University of Minnesota Law School, Nov. 6, 1991.

See also:

On the Meaning of Elitism By Anna Charlton, Rutgers Animal Rights Law Center; Priscilla Cohn, Penn State University; Gary Francione, Rutgers University Law School; and Tom Regan, North Carolina State University.

Back to In Their Own Words Index / Home