http://leokirts.com/about daily 1.0 2024-02-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/2d7cbfba-50ce-4654-a309-f88c91e0d7b2/IMG_3427.jpg about http://leokirts.com/queervegans daily 0.75 2019-11-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1494714043982-UIX2DT2SMIWV89YNU9L5/11894411_10153624542677990_4214693605662583668_o.jpg queer vegans - ARI "Being gay isn’t something that I chose, it’s just something that I am, whereas being vegan is something that I choose every day." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1495598447832-0S6M3QTPSBS69W01LTSO/LK3.jpg queer vegans - DANNY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1497655122661-GTAL1ZK0ODWBYB99EFR6/SG+Pride+Shoot.jpg queer vegans - GWEN https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496160687356-NE0S4BZ8XMNG84WBOXOU/Joshua+K.jpg queer vegans - JOSHUA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496170331937-1E0BXJB9EAWAZ6K3GBCU/Katherine+Belcher.JPG queer vegans - KATHERINE https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496336323878-XCSBOPLMPP03ANR1OHI2/pax-headshot-dec2015.jpg queer vegans - PAX https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496722784716-RI5SEBACMPQHGOEEJ4FY/Slater+outside+.JPG queer vegans - SLATER https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1497849541646-YKWD31SHDYOFPUHCQNJE/Daisy++copy.jpg queer vegans - DAISY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1497849552552-IQRDR0OWEHXQ5QITFBO5/Jess+Powers.jpg queer vegans - JESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1497849598671-HOA79IAW3AVN5M2GO2UV/LK6.JPG queer vegans - PAPER http://leokirts.com/paper daily 0.75 2017-06-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1494521752063-KHAGHBTOL18TKSBLKT4R/image-asset.jpeg Paper - PAPER BUCK "From a really young age, I identified with masculinity and resented being feminized, but I didn’t have any context for other options. As a child, tomboy was the choice that I had and could embrace. I saw myself as a girl, but tomboy was my identity. Girl was not my identity." Paper, 31, is an artist and educator. He is trans, male, and polysexual. He's a former vegan/vegetarian and eat a mostly plant-based diet. He lives in Pennsylvania with his partner. Photo courtesy of Paper. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496263167459-JAKQP7IIHEKZQMP778BT/image-asset.jpeg Paper "For me, there was a lot of shame. Even my parents, people who love me and want to support me, expressed a sense of shame or wished it would be different and felt a little embarrassed owning that their child is trans." http://leokirts.com/daisy daily 0.75 2017-06-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1495680953681-PE96UONJS64X193J0Z7P/Daisy+.jpg Daisy - DAISY FREUND "Building consensus is essential to my identity. Being able to bridge the divide of opinion between farmers and animal advocates is a skill I value in myself, and that carries over into every piece of my life. It's essential to who I am and how I want to move through the world." Daisy, 31, works for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She is bisexual, humaneitarian (75 percent vegan), and lives in Upstate New York with her partner. Photo courtesy of Daisy. http://leokirts.com/jess daily 0.75 2017-06-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1494520687268-X21Z7YN6A42OV6QXGX47/image-asset.jpeg Jess - JESS POWERS "When you're queer, the process of self exploration and coming out makes you question the narrative about your future that you've been given. You begin to question many things about identity and dominant culture and oppression. You need to create your own story." Jess, 42, is a chef and writer. She is lesbian/queer/gay and part hispanic. She is a former vegetarian and eats a mostly plant-based diet. She lives in Brooklyn. Photo courtesy of Jess. http://leokirts.com/slater daily 0.75 2018-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496717791603-W0IDGS7QI3BCU05V7N3W/image-asset.jpeg Slater "Being my true self helps others feels more comfortable with themselves as well." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1494446386468-TWIHJPA0AB40QFFLE5P9/image-asset.jpeg Slater - SLATER STANLEY "I’m trying to show how animal rights politics connect to human rights politics. Understanding my own marginalization has made me more empathetic to animals, as other sentient creatures we share the earth with whose voices are ignored." Slater, 24, is a vegan cook, queer performance artist, and makeup artist. Slater is genderqueer, (uses male and female pronouns) and lives in Brooklyn. Photos by Maggie Tauranac. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496721096585-UYKH5R4IEBMBJZW6KODB/image-asset.jpeg Slater "Cooking has really elevated my own consciousness, because I make sure to have a wide demographic of people over to my house for dinner so that I can hear about their experiences and expand my own mind, really. I’ve gotten to know a lot people very closely through cooking for them." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496722359323-R4UYSQO0SX81D3S04UOT/image-asset.jpeg Slater "I want to show them how weird and fun vegan food can be, and make it interesting and taste good." http://leokirts.com/joshua daily 0.75 2017-06-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496160575764-YFFFTH4K9NP28BQKSA7K/image-asset.jpeg Joshua "I was 15 when I found out about clearcutting the rainforest to graze cattle and I thought it was terrible. I felt I had been lied to about the entire food system and began researching and questioning it. I took out Peter Singer's Animal Liberation from my high school library and it changed my life." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496375601370-GX7V16EBTN67ASF5YHZG/joshua-1200x450-c.jpg Joshua "I use food whenever I can, whether it's bringing vegan doughnuts to my students on the first day of class, baking something as a gift to friends, preparing a veganized traditional meal for a family holiday, or inviting people to my vegan wedding. Delicious food makes the best argument for veganism." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1494522145250-YKRA13MXFHLKBG2E6M16/image-asset.jpeg Joshua - JOSHUA KATCHER "I think about food everyday; where I go to eat and what I cook. What I feed people at events, holidays, and social gatherings becomes a main feature of my activism and desire to make change. We have to make good food if we want to change the food system, and I take that very seriously." Joshua, 36, is an instructor of fashion at Parsons The New School, founder and creative director of Brave GentleMan, and founder and editor of The Discerning Brute. He is gay, Jewish, and lives in Brooklyn with his husband and their animal companions. Photos courtesy of Joshua. http://leokirts.com/danny daily 0.75 2017-07-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1495681971528-IGA86PDZR6U1Q1UILHHB/image-asset.jpeg Danny "I never thought about what I ate or used or wore, in terms of how those choices affected the lives of animals. Now that I know my choices affect the lives of animals, I choose differently, and I probably always will. In that way, being vegan is an intrinsic part of my identity." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1494446141923-NEAHAYL6TVF3XM9T66VY/image-asset.jpeg Danny - DANNY MORENO "I wouldn't trade the life I have now for anything else, and I know I have this life because I'm proudly gay." Danny, 27, works in communications and sings in the Gay Men's Chorus. He's gay, mixed race, and vegan. He lives in California. Photos by Maggie Tauranac. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1495476576525-ZC590GMHHE01OJ5LLBOT/Danny5.jpg Danny "As a gay person, I notice when I don't see or speak to other LGBTQ people for days at a time. I notice when someone talks about a child or baby and assumes they'll grow up to be heterosexual. If I see a same sex couple holding hands or being affectionate in a 'not gay' neighborhood, maybe I'll walk a bit closer to them to make sure no one gives them a hard time." http://leokirts.com/katherine daily 0.75 2017-07-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1494522089896-395PARG8FAPD9228DN2G/image-asset.jpeg Katherine - KATHERINE BELCHER "I consider my food the same way I consider the work that I want to do in the world... I’m using my privilege and identity to advocate for people who have oppressed identities and get screwed over in the world, which I think really correlates with the way I eat." Katherine (center), 32, is a social worker. She is queer and vegan, and lives with her wife & their dog in Denver, Colorado. Photo courtesy of Katherine. http://leokirts.com/ari daily 0.75 2017-09-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1495680641515-8RN7AHMG2JIY871HN8DC/image-asset.jpeg Ari - ARI SOLOMON "Being gay isn’t something that I chose, it’s just something that I am, whereas being vegan is something that I choose every day." Ari (right), 40, is an animal rights activist and works at Mercy for Animals. He's gay, secular Jewish, and vegan. He lives in L.A. with his husband, Mikko (left) and their two cats. Photos courtesy of Ari. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1495601530454-FAT41673P7AHORNSBIMZ/image-asset.png Ari "The LGBTQ issue feels so much more personal because it’s actually talking about me, whereas when I’m talking about animals, I really care and it upsets me, but it’s not me. I’m not the one in a battery cage or a gestation crate or whatever." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1495600557749-13L60GAM4I2CAMQ6RS6T/image-asset.jpeg Ari "There wasn’t awareness at the time in schools about bullying and teachers protecting kids from attacks like that. There was nowhere for me to really go. I think that I just kind of endured it and tried to keep my head down when it happened and act like it wasn’t happening. Even now, when I talk about it, it bothers me." http://leokirts.com/writing daily 0.75 2025-09-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1556727328546-5RFFCDYQ2CZSBWHAOQ39/kirts-art-of-adaptation-paperbark-emergence.jpg writing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1556727520114-Y9KP5JTIAEYRSZ5DFMIO/Jarry_Issue6_ComingOutAsVegan_LeahKirts.jpg writing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1535477004447-W7A4LAJL6MOC5NH6QLL5/Babetown-2018-LPalmberg-010.jpg writing http://leokirts.com/pax daily 0.75 2017-06-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1496334794028-7EDB94BXD1X5FP0EE485/image-asset.jpeg Pax "I was motivated to start doing gender education because of my experience as a trans person, and specifically as a non-binary person of color. I wanted cisgender people to see that not every trans person is Caitlyn Jenner." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1494446570988-WHV2STUZS3M1F6D6TZTZ/image-asset.jpeg Pax - PAX AHIMSA GETHEN "Being vegan is definitely essential to my identity. My name, Pax Ahimsa, literally translates to 'peace' and 'do no harm.' I extend that ethic to our fellow animals as well as humans. I adopted the name Ahimsa as a literal, constant reminder to never resort to violence." Pax, 46, is a photographer, writer, and educates animal rights groups on race and gender. Pax is a black, queer, agender trans male who is vegan and atheist. They live in San Francisco with their husband, Ziggy. Photos by Ziggy Tomcich. http://leokirts.com/gwen daily 0.75 2017-06-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1497653163144-D0GZOS0EJU0666SME3BR/image-asset.jpeg Gwen https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1497654779038-5IUJP1Z6H3E48EBW7WWZ/image-asset.jpeg Gwen http://leokirts.com/scrap-pile daily 0.75 2017-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1500519737438-2IOY0YN6Y73YH09JUO1T/scrap+pile.JPG Scrap Pile Toast http://leokirts.com/sultry-summer-gazpacho daily 0.75 2017-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1500521795127-E2XPDL6SJAS08Z6GDEBI/image-asset.jpeg Sultry Summer Gazpacho http://leokirts.com/shroomy-mac-cheese daily 0.75 2017-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b41179e4b070274a90b772/1505593505068-D5SBI5II9TLE4QDL6LMR/Shroomy+Mac+%26+Cheese.JPG Shroomy Mac & Cheese http://leokirts.com/appearances daily 0.75 2023-07-14