He has been arrested over twenty times all over the world in his efforts to promote animal welfare. His first book, released in 2007, is titled Committed: A Rabble-Rouser’s Memoir. In 2007 Mathews was ranked 37th in Out magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America.”

During his interview with WFIU's Shana Ritter, Mathews tells the story of growing up in California and being raised by a passionate, liberal mother who inspired him to feel something about the issues he saw on the news.  When someone started mutilating and abusing the stray cats in his area, Mathews and his family took the animals in.  “I had no idea what an animal shelter even was,” says Mathews.  “I just thought that’s what you did when you saw a bedraggled animal on the street”. 

He had a further moment of clarity while on a fishing trip with his father.  As a young gay man who had recently been a victim of violence, Mathews felt a connection with a flounder he hauled in.  “Here was this pathetic creature, just gasping for breath, and looking up with these two ugly eyes, only to look at all these people looking at him and laughing at him.  I felt like that was me, and that’s when I stopped eating meat.”

At 18 years old Mathews saved up enough money to move to Rome, working in one of the world’s oldest cities in the world’s oldest profession – as an escort.  “Might as well get paid to learn” was his rationale.  He worked his way into modeling and acting, while at the same time volunteering for animal rights groups.

As senior vice president of PETA, Mathews has taken the values his mother instilled in him and made it his life’s work to fight for what he believes. “Back then, at a protest you wouldn’t have any media,” remembers Mathews. “There would maybe be three old ladies, maybe a hippie, and me.  I felt responsible to make something more happen”

Mathews speaks of encouraging designers such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger to stop using fur in their fashion lines.  He remembers storming the Rose Parade Float of General Motors dressed as a rabbit to protest the company’s use of animals in car crash tests, and occupying the National Institutes of Health for 7 days after reviewing evidence of animal cruelty at the University of Pennsylvania.  Mathews calls the latter effort, which resulted in the Reagan Administration shutting down the offending million-dollar research project. “a watershed moment that propelled PETA into the mainstream.”

The format of this program includes two music selections picked by the guest.

He has been arrested over twenty times all over the world in his efforts to promote animal welfare. His first book, released in 2007, is titled Committed: A Rabble-Rouser’s Memoir. In 2007 Mathews was ranked 37th in Out magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America.”

During his interview with WFIU's Shana Ritter, Mathews tells the story of growing up in California and being raised by a passionate, liberal mother who inspired him to feel something about the issues he saw on the news.  When someone started mutilating and abusing the stray cats in his area, Mathews and his family took the animals in.  “I had no idea what an animal shelter even was,” says Mathews.  “I just thought that’s what you did when you saw a bedraggled animal on the street”. 

He had a further moment of clarity while on a fishing trip with his father.  As a young gay man who had recently been a victim of violence, Mathews felt a connection with a flounder he hauled in.  “Here was this pathetic creature, just gasping for breath, and looking up with these two ugly eyes, only to look at all these people looking at him and laughing at him.  I felt like that was me, and that’s when I stopped eating meat.”

At 18 years old Mathews saved up enough money to move to Rome, working in one of the world’s oldest cities in the world’s oldest profession – as an escort.  “Might as well get paid to learn” was his rationale.  He worked his way into modeling and acting, while at the same time volunteering for animal rights groups.

As senior vice president of PETA, Mathews has taken the values his mother instilled in him and made it his life’s work to fight for what he believes. “Back then, at a protest you wouldn’t have any media,” remembers Mathews. “There would maybe be three old ladies, maybe a hippie, and me.  I felt responsible to make something more happen”

Mathews speaks of encouraging designers such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger to stop using fur in their fashion lines.  He remembers storming the Rose Parade Float of General Motors dressed as a rabbit to protest the company’s use of animals in car crash tests, and occupying the National Institutes of Health for 7 days after reviewing evidence of animal cruelty at the University of Pennsylvania.  Mathews calls the latter effort, which resulted in the Reagan Administration shutting down the offending million-dollar research project. “a watershed moment that propelled PETA into the mainstream.”

The format of this program includes two music selections picked by the guest.