Last night at The Ebell of Los Angeles, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk kicked off her Naked Truth U.S. speaking tour to a packed house that included Sam Simon, Jennifer Tilly, Christian Serratos, Tony Kanal, and host Kevin Nealon. And listeners were moved.

The goal of the tour is to show audiences that animal rights isn't just about "pets," pelts, or veggie burgers—it's about persuading people to view all animals as fellow citizens worthy of our respect. And the way that we accomplish that is by doing exactly what Ingrid went on tour to do: Speak. When we do, "we fail to reach some people sometimes, but when we don't try, we fail to reach everyone," Ingrid explained.

Determined to start speaking up, yesterday I suggested some activities that my friend could do with his daughter instead of taking her to SeaWorld. And tonight, I'm taking my date to try vegan sushi. That I can do. We all can. As Ingrid maintains, fretting won't win the animal rights battles, but activism will!

She is known for giving powerful, motivational speeches, so if you can make it to see her on the tour (tour dates to be added soon), please do, and take someone else with you. But if you can't, the one thing to remember is that the "naked truth" about advancing the animal rights movement, is simple.

Speak up—at every opportunity.

Update: Bob Barker has also written to Indiana legislators urging them to vote no on S.B. 373. The measure already has a strong Democratic opponent in Sen. Mark Stoops, so Barker, a lifelong Republican, hopes to unite lawmakers on both sides of the aisle against this unconstitutional bill.

The following was originally published on March 4, 2013:

Indiana's proposed "ag gag" bill made it through the Senate and has landed in the House. But multiplatinum musician Tony Kanal is calling on the state, where he spent time as a child, to do the right thing and squash this very wrong bill. Indiana Sen. Mark Stoops is joining Tony in speaking out against the bill, having likened it to his trip to Communist-era Romania, in which he was prohibited from taking photos. Says Sen. Stoops, "This is an attack on our 1^st Amendment rights and another example of Big Government protecting industry at the expense of the public's welfare."

Like other "ag gag" bills, Indiana's version, Senate Bill (S.B.) 373, would make it illegal for people to film on factory farms. S.B. 373 would allow whistleblowers some protection if they handed over their video to authorities within 48 hours of capturing it. But this is a thinly veiled attempt to garner more support for the bill. 

As PETA has witnessed time and again in our undercover investigations, it is crucial that investigators be able to prove that the abuse they documented was pervasive and systematic, rather than an isolated incident, in order to get the abusers convicted. In both our West Virginia Aviagen turkeys and Iowa Hormel supplier pig factory farm cases, investigators reported abuse to their supervisors, who failed to stop the abuse and, in some cases, took part in it themselves. Only with extensive video evidence was PETA able to get the abusers charged and convicted (and the abuse stopped), a point that Tony made in his letter to Speaker of the House Brian Bosma.

If you live in Indiana, please urge your representative to vote "No" on S.B. 373.

Because if factory farms have nothing to hide, why are they pushing so hard to make videotaping illegal? 

Although some aquariums are still willing to host raucous parties despite knowing that the pounding music is hell on marine mammals' sensitive sonar systems, more progressive aquariums are refusing. Case in point: Rocker Tony Kanal teamed up with PETA to let the under-construction Ripley's Aquarium of Canada in Toronto know that rock belongs in arenas, not aquariums. Here's his letter asking the aquarium not to allow rowdy parties if it intends to keep whales and dolphins in the building:

Almost immediately, Tony received this positive response:

Not only is Ripley's saving whales and dolphins from becoming disoriented and agitated when deafening music disrupts their ability to navigate and communicate via sonar, the aquarium is also saving them from the lifetime of frustration, illness, and stress that they would have had in captivity.

While all marine mammals deserve their freedom, the least that aquariums can do is not torment them with blasting music. Join Jane Lynch in asking Atlanta Pride to move its upcoming party to a more humane venue than the Georgia Aquarium, and join Tommy Lee in asking SeaWorld to cancel its loud "Shamu Rocks" shows.