Animal Rights Signature Drive Goes Down in Flames in Beverly Hills

By Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 6, 1998: For several months, animal rights' signature gatherers, ironically armed with press packages swathed in petro-chemical fur, worked unsuccessfully to qualify an initiative for the Beverly Hills city ballot. "Beverly Hills Consumers for Informed Choices," a new group led by a Luke Montgomery, developed the "Consumer's Right to Informed Choices Act of 1999" which would label fur coats sold in Beverly Hills. The credit card-sized label was to list virtually every method by which animals die. Noticeably absent were the methods nature takes animals: disease, starvation, predation, etc.

The efforts of Montgomery and company failed to result in a minimal number of signatures. Although reports vary, it appears that only about 300 Beverly Hills registered voters were swayed to sign the petitions to put the labeling initiative on the ballot.

The proposed draft of the initiative did not focus on the production of other products sold in Beverly Hills, but most people immediately wondered, "Who's next?" Would each shop in Beverly Hills eventually be forced to attach labels to leather, steak, silk, sushi, cotton, vegetables and medicines? And how much would the shops have to pay to how many different animal rights groups for these labeling programs?

Luke Sissyfag

Luke Montgomery, the organizer of this "consumer choice" action, is an animal rights activist and a one-time D mayoral candidate. Montgomery, who legally changed his name to Luke Sissyfag, achieved U.S. notoriety for heckling President Clinton during a Georgetown University speech on World AIDS Day. While working as a program staffer for Last Chance for Animals, Montgomery/Sissyfag hypocritically promoted the philosophy of animal rights in a world which requires animal research to find a cure for AIDS. According to their website, Last Chance for Animals (LCA) "does not accept a difference in species as justification for wanton exploitation or oppression for any purpose. LCA opposes the use of animals for food, entertainment, clothing, and scientific curiosity. In addition, LCA recognizes the use of non-human animals in experimentation designed to cure human disease as both immoral and of questionable scientific validity."

The fur industry worked early and proactively on this issue. Fur America established a committee chaired by Teresa Platt of Fur Commission USA, with Carol Wynne of Fur Information Council of America, Steve Greene of the National Trappers Association and Keith Kaplan of Fur California. Early and proactive involvement by Beverly Hills merchants, the Chamber of Commerce, local politicians, editors and furriers made the difference in winning this battle.

Is it over? The concept isn't new and will be with us for a long time. However, a win is always something to celebrate and it shows how positive the process of coalition building can be against common enemies.

For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, PMB 506, 826 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA 92118-2698 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 272-2467/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com. See also Teresa's blog and Facebook.

To take a cyber-tour of a fur farm, visit FCUSA's Fur on Film.

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