PETA Vice President Dan Mathews' activism sends him all over the world, including to a recent Milan runway. He brings his autobiography, 'Committed,' to Atlanta this week. (Photo courtesy PETA)
Beast burden Gay PETA VIP recalls his "committed" life for Atlanta audience
A
memorable
ambush
by
anti-gay
bullies
reduced
an
adolescent
Dan
Mathews
to
a
gasping,
flopping
jumble
on
a
school
floor.
Sometime
later,
on
a
boat
during
a
family
fishing
trip,
Mathews
opened
his
eyes
to
the
realities
of
the
fish
he
and
others
reeled
in.
The
fish
were
sprawled
in
bloody
recoil
from
the
hooks,
and
they
were
writhing,
flopping
and
gasping
to
breathe.
Mathews
was
pretty
sure
he
knew
how
they
felt.
So
an
activist
for
animal
rights
was
made,
and
with
him,
much
of
the
headline
grabbing
success
of
PETA,
People
for
the
Ethical
Treatment
of
Animals.
Mathews
joined
the
organization
in
1985
as
a
receptionist.
Now
the
group’s
vice
president,
he
brings
“Committed,”
his
2007
autobiography,
to
the
Buckhead
Borders
on
July
24.
“Committed”
uses
a
short-story
format
to
chronicle
Mathews’
charmed,
if
offbeat,
life
in
loosely
chronological
order.
The
book
came
about
after
Mathews
penned
a
story
for
Details
magazine
that
reviewed
and
rated
the
many
jails
in
which
he
has
spent
time.
“I
stopped
counting
sometime
around
20,”
he
laughs.
The
stories
behind
the
arrests,
some
of
which
are
recalled
in
“Committed,”
map
out
Mathews’
fascinating
journey
from
gay
small-town
grade
school
reject
in
California,
to
stints
in
Italy
as
a
hustler
and
runway
model,
to
the
celebrity
chaser
who
signs
on
names
like
Pamela
Anderson,
Pink
and
Al
Sharpton
to
rebuke
Kentucky
Fried
Chicken.
Mathews’
first
PETA
protest
took
place
outside
a
1981
American
Psychological
Association
conference
in
Los
Angeles.
He
and
his
“punk
friend
Connie”
rode
down
to
help
call
out
a
conference
honoree,
a
doctor
who
performed
animal
testing
that
was
downright
sadistic,
as
Mathews
describes
it.
“That
first
protest
I
went
to
in
1981,
it
started
off
as
a
pretty
dull
protest,"
Mathews
recalls.
"There
was
a
bunch
of
old
ladies
holding
signs
and
me
and
my
punk
rock
friends.
Somebody
had
an
effigy
of
a
doctor
wearing
a
white
lab
coat,
and
somebody,
one
of
the
old
ladies,
set
it
on
fire.
They
started
walking
around
it
and
chanting
burn
slow.”
The
image
of
the
burning
doc
lit
a
spark
in
Mathews,
who
since
helped
push
PETA
out
from
the
shadows
as
a
pet
cause
for
hippies
and
into
a
viable,
solvent
and
well
known
nonprofit.
“I’m
as
much
a
sociologist
as
I
am
an
activist,
and
I’m
painfully
aware
that
there’s
a
lot
of
competition
for
people’s
attention,”
he
says,
explaining
the
organization’s
high-profile
alliances
with
outspoken
celebs
like
Martha
Stewart,
who
campaigns
against
the
use
of
animal
fur
in
textiles.
Mathews
credits
PETA’s
involvement
with
the
virtual
elimination
of
animal
testing
trials
for
cosmetic
consumer
products.
But
it
was
PETA’s
anti-fur
campaigns
that
thrust
the
organization
into
worldwide
headlines
in
the
late
1980s
and
early
1990s.
“You
have
to
come
up
with
some
sort
of
action
plan
so
that
people
really
feel
like
they’re
witnessing
a
happening,
and
that
there’s
some
boiling
point
that
it’s
all
going
to
come
to
that
everybody
can’t
take
their
eyes
off
it,”
he
explains
of
his
methods.
As
a
creator
and
spokesperson
for
PETA’s
“Rather
go
naked
than
wear
fur”
campaign,
Mathews
and
a
pal
trekked
to
Japan
to
protest
a
fur
trade
convention.
“We
figured
out
the
one
thing
we
could
do
to
ensure
that
our
action
got
some
people
talking
about
the
fur
issue
was
to
pretend
that
we
were
a
stripper
couple
who
had
come
to
Tokyo
to
practice
our
striptease
outside
of
this
fur
convention
with
a
banner
that
said
'We’d
rather
go
naked
than
wear
fur,'”
he
recalls.
With
little
help
from
Japanese
animal
groups,
Mathews
and
his
pal
alerted
as
many
news
media
outlets
as
they
could,
and
scored
worldwide
coverage
of
their
protest.
“I
think
the
one
thing
we
would
never
do
is
that
we
would
never
do
anything
violent.
We’re
more
vaudeville
than
violence,”
he
says.
His
UNFLINCHING
PURSUIT
of
better
treatment
for
animals
comes
from
Mathews’
outsider
status
as
a
gay
man,
he
says.
It’s
also
born
of
his
love
of
mischief,
he
admits.
“I
think
the
main
message
of
my
book
is
to
follow
your
heart
in
life,
and
not
your
wallet,
he
says.
“The
second
message
is
for
those
people
who
are
active
in
a
cause
and
get
burned
out
because
they’re
not
having
fun.
My
priorities
are
having
fun
and
helping
animals,
in
that
order.”
His
advice
is
simple.
“I
always
try
to
get
people
to
lighten
up,"
he
says.
"Life
should
be
a
lark.
And
if
you
can
do
some
good
things
along
the
way,
great.
But
don’t
become
a
fucking
bore.”
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