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In the summer of 1980 the Democratic National Convention was to be held in New York City.
A few weeks before the event, Tom had an idea.
"You know there are going to be all kinds of causes and demonstrations happening there. I think we should do something to promote Animal Rights, but it will have to be something that grabs attention, something that could be press worthy." "Do you have anything particularly in mind?" I prompted Tom. "As a matter of fact, I do," he winked at me.
Tom's idea was that we would rent "animal" costumes. He would be a monkey and I would be a cat. We would do signs and call up all our activist friends to attend. The "cat costume" I was to wear was, in fact, a very skimpy, black cocktail waitress uniform which rivaled anything worn by Playboy waitresses. High-cut on the legs, tight fitting around the body and it contained a long, flowing tail, pointy ears and whiskers.
"Are you game for this,?" Tom asked, smiling. I smiled back, my face a little red, but said, "Sure. Anything for the animals."
Tom had a large banner made proclaiming "Animal Liberation Now!" and both of us worked to create signs for the rally.
The day of the event, approximately 50 people showed up to support our rally. We needed at least 5 people to hold the banner. But, we were far outnumbered by far bigger and far more impressive rallies, some of which contained hundreds of people. They ranged from anti-nuke, to women's issues, to racial causes. It didn't look good that we would get any kind of attention from the swarms of media that were there to film the goings-on outside Madison Square Garden and the Convention. Tom, the other activists and I took our places behind the designated police lines and hoped for the best.
Then, I removed the light outer-coat I wore to reveal the sexy cat costume underneath. And suddenly, Animal Rights was the highlight of all the outside demos. I was suddenly surrounded by an avalanche of paparazzi.
"Stand over here, Ma'am?" "Can you hold the sign in front of you?" "Turn this way."
"Can we get the guy in the monkey costume in the picture?" "Can you stand in front of the people with the banner?"
I must have stood for almost two hours posing while still and TV cameras rolled away. Tom gave interviews to interested reporters. I couldn't believe the attention we were getting with our small, modest demonstration. The other groups with their elaborate displays and throngs of supporters must have hated us.
After the reporters left, we stayed for hours behind our table gathering names on petitions and support from the crowds. Tara stood beside me asking people to "please sign the petition to save animals!" We gathered several thousands of petition names that day supporting anti-trapping and alternatives to vivisection legislation.
That night, our little "Animal Liberation" rally was all over every TV news program, both local and national, often promoted in the lead-ins. I saw myself over and over again, skimpy tight costume and long tail swishing in the soft summer breezes. It was as if we were the only demonstration at the convention, when it fact, there were hundreds.
The following day an Associated Press photograph of Tom and me holding up our "Animals Are Not Lab Tools!" signs appeared in hundreds of papers across the country.
The cause of Animal Rights had arrived, however "unconventionally" on the national stage. Tom and I smiled.