Dan Mathews isn't your typical activist.

This fun loving rabble-rouser regularly humiliates himself for his cause, gets arrested and finds himself under fire from flying beef. No, he isn't a gay activist - well, he is gay and an activist, but Mr. Mathews spends much of his rabble-rousing energies fighting for furry friends. Yes, that's right, Mathews works for PETA.

Say what you will about the vegetable loving organization, but you can't deny that they're effective, making headlines and grabbing ink left, right and center.

The model turned activists' memoir, Committed, just came out in paperback, so our meat loving editor took some time to pick Mathews' brain on the evolution of his work, what makes his organization so effective, how to use "impure" allies and what gay organizations can learn from PETA's sensational ways.

Read all about it, after the jump.

[Image by Todd Oldham]

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