Sometimes, we eat during meetings - or rather, they eat. I can confirm from the food served and their willingness to eat it that very few, if any of them, are vegan. I always decline food but don't say why, but eventually, I'm sure someone's going to ask.
And that's the moment I've been dreading. I've been on Hexbear since it first went online. I've seen, firsthand, how much non-vegans - even the communists here, who have better politics than 99% of the people I know - fucking hate us. I'd go so far as to say at this point that I'd be more comfortable telling an average lib I'm vegan than I would a communist. At least the lib will probably just see it as a strange personal choice rather than accusing me of being a fifth columnist.
Sounds like they were frustrated at the conversation to me. If someone in my life responds that way to me I don't assume they hate me.
I could see that if it happened once, but I've seen so many people deliberately come into this community to argue and respond like this when we try to explain ourselves that I can't attribute it to anything except active, sustained hostility.