Model, Nurse are Finalists in PETA’s ‘Sexiest Vegan’ Contest

Members of the LGBTQ+ Community Battle It Out in an Attempt to Take Top Honors—and a Tropical Vacation

For Immediate Release:
April 25, 2019

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

PETA is preparing to crown this year’s Sexiest Vegan Next Door—and two LGBTQ+ activists are vying for the title after beating out hundreds of other entrants from across the nation to advance to the final round of 20 contestants. Visitors to PETA.org can now help PETA select the two winners, who will each receive a free vacation for two to Hawaii, courtesy of Humane Travel.

Salt Lake City local Chancellor Rose Partington went vegan over six years ago, inspired by a lifelong love of animals and his family’s history: His grandfather was one of two family members to survive the Holocaust. “What was done to the Jewish people from whom I descend is the same horrific treatment endured by nonhuman animals today,” he says. “My grandfather’s tremendous courage gave me life. I see it as my moral duty and honor to dedicate it in service to those less fortunate.” Today, Partington works in client services at an animal hospital, where he’s proud to help animals and their guardians during times of crisis. He’s also a working runway model—the very first transgender model to sign with the agency that represents him. He frequently speaks about animal rights and LGBTQ+ issues at conferences, in college classrooms, on community television, and elsewhere.

Licensed vocational nurse Jasmine Nakasone runs a vegan lifestyle blog from her home in Chesterfield, Virginia, where she lives with her wife of five years, their daughter, and their two adopted dogs. She was moved to ditch meat, eggs, and dairy after watching PETA’s video “Meet Your Meat,” and she’s quick to point out that keeping animals off her plate is as much about showing respect for all living, feeling beings as it is about enjoying healthy and delicious food. “If you don’t have equality in one aspect of society, then you can’t expect it anywhere else,” she says. “That’s what a vegan lifestyle is about for me—a way to help make sure everyone is treated right, including animals.”

“Both of these passionate vegans are committed to standing up for justice—for everyone,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “All the finalists in PETA’s Sexiest Vegan Next Door contest prove that there’s nothing sexier than making the world a kinder place.”

Voting to help PETA determine which finalists it should select as the winners ends at 12 noon EDT on May 13. The winners—who will be selected based on several factors, including vote count—will be announced on May 20. This is the first year that the contest is gender neutral. See the full contest details here.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.