Showdown at HSUS’s 60th Anniversary Gala
On Friday, the deceptively named Humane Society of the United States threw itself a party in New York City to celebrate its 60th anniversary. And we were there—to let guests know some facts about HSUS that HSUS doesn’t want them to know. The only thing chillier than the air was the reception we got from HSUS.
Readers may recall that we also crashed last year’s event by handing out gift bags to event goers as they exited. This year, we decided to educate people as they went in on the red carpet. (Yes, HSUS thinks so highly of itself as to have a red carpet.)
The cold weather meant that the red carpet was covered. (The HSUS invitation reminded their trust fund benefactors not to wear fur, so they must have been concerned that if they made them stand in the cold the request would be ignored.) That was just fine for us—it meant essentially everyone entered one door and stood in one line. We had signs along the transparent canopy as well as signs on the sidewalk at the front entrance.
HSUS’s head security grunt wasn’t happy with our presence. He took away gift bags with dog toys and literature that we handed out to attendees—a good sign that HSUS is threatened by people learning the truth. A couple of HSUS staffers shoved phones in our faces to take pictures (presumably as an intimidation ploy—apparently they only like First Amendment rights when they are the protesters). And there were a handful of attendees who clearly had drunk the HSUS kool-aid who shouted profanities at us.
There didn’t seem to be that many high-profiles guests this year—the wire service photos for last week’s event are few in number. Former Mayor Bloomberg didn’t show up this year, and perhaps the most prominent guest, actor Chevy Chase, was reportedly “a train wreck.”
We were never going to win over the diehard HSUS partisans. Fortunately, we had more than a few surprised looks from guests. It’s the moderate crowd—people who do the charity dinner circuit—that we hoped to get asking some questions. Next year when HSUS calls, perhaps they’ll say they already gave locally.
