If you have seen the 2004 movie "Girl Play", you already know the couple Lacie Harmon and Robin Greenspan, whose true love story is told by director Lee Friedlander in that film. It has been a long time, but the two are still a couple and have been for 21 years now. Watch the movie trailer:
I had the chance to ask them about their life, love and animal rights..
You have been a couple for 21 years now and in 2004 you made a movie about your love story called "Girl Play". What is the most important secret of your relationship after such a long time?
Robin: We really don’t have any secret. We were incredibly lucky to meet each other and we just realize how completely lucky we got. That keeps us from screwing it up. We don’t want to be those people that win the lottery and then blow it. And, we treat our relationship as a team partnership.
Lacie: Actually, we have a video where we talk about this: Top 10 Secrets to a Happy Marriage (https://youtu.be/WNYw66DcdXU)
On your successful Youtube channel "Lacie and Robin" you give the world some insight into your private life. You also talk about veganism there. Since when have you been vegan and why, how did it come about?
Robin: Much like owning a minimum of one cat, lesbians will soon be required to be vegan. We’re just accepting the inevitable.
Lacie: We became vegan about six years ago because we love animals and we saw the right documentary at the wrong time. Or was it the wrong documentary at the right time? Anyway, don’t watch “Vegucated“ if you’re afraid you might want to be vegan.
Intersectional veganism is becoming an increasingly important topic. Do you believe this will lead to a better future for humans and animals?
Robin: Absolutely! The more we can understand the pain of other living beings, the more empathy and compassion we can have, and this can only make things better for everybody, including the animals.
What are your favorite vegan dishes?
Robin: Anything that approximates cheese is a favorite for us. We made a video in which we tried a recipe for vegan nacho cheese called “Crappy Cooks vs. Vegan Nacho Cheese” (https://youtu.be/Oj8YxHgA444) and it ended up tasting so great that it instantly became a staple in our diets.
Lacie: Basically, anytime we can throw some raw cashews and nutritional yeast in a blender, and we’re all over it.
Do you have any animals?
We have two feline overlords, Lionel and Frankie, who keep us busy bringing them snacks and removing fur from our clothes. But, we worship the ground they walk on.
What is that one statement you as vegans are tired of hearing?
Robin: “Lady, put your clothes on and get out of my yard!“
Lacie: I don’t actually get sick of hearing anything. But, it “doinks“ me when people say “Okay, I understand about not eating meat but what’s the problem with dairy? Those animals aren’t killed.“ It’s totally understandable that a lot of people wouldn’t know this – we didn’t – but dairy animals have it arguably even worse than meat animals. It’s horrific.
The fight against oppression and hatred will be more important than ever in 2018. What step back in LGBT rights have you personally experienced in the last year?
Lacie: Though we haven’t been personally affected, we take it very personally that the current U.S. administration has acted against transgender people. And, lots of other minorities, including disabled people and immigrants. And, of course, just recently, they attempted to make it legal again to fire an employee for being LGBT. It’s the 1900s all over again!
Robin: But, we think it’s only a minor setback because we really do believe that, over time, no one can stop progress that moves in the direction of love.
What are your next professional and private plans?
Robin: Our short-term goal is to survive the Trumpocalypse. We made a video about how we plan to do that: 11 Must-Haves for your Trumpocalypse Bunker (https://youtu.be/6tY8B8QURc4)
Lacie: We just started a website we’re really proud of at www.lacieandrobin.com. It’s got links to all of our videos plus a snarky blog that Robin is writing.
Robin: We’re not really sure what we’ll do next. We’re at a point in our lives where we’re re-evaluating a lot of things and we’re not rushing to make decisions. We’ve talked about writing another show and getting back on stage and possibly touring. But then we also talk about opening a farm animal sanctuary where we offer goat yoga and make vegan cheese.
Lacie: Who knows? Anything’s possible. The only thing we know is that we’ll keep on doing what scares and inspires us.
Contact and Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LacieAndRobin
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LacieandRobin
Instagram: https://instagram.com/LacieAndRobin
Fotocredit: Lacie Harmon and Robin Greenspan
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this interview are prepared to the interviewee’s and the interviewer’s best capacity and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of The Vegan Rainbow Project itself. Please also not that people change and so do their opinions. We kindly ask you to be mindful of that when reading past articles and/ or statements that are referenced in this interview.