PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), whose mission statement is "Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment" is facing backlash for their tweet on discrimination.

Twitter users found it to be an odd statement to make.

PETA's responses to these tweets didn't seem to help them or make their stance on women's rights any clearer.

The United State of Women

The United State of Women is a summit assembled by the White House for women and girls to "celebrate what we've achieved, and how we’re going to take action moving forward," according to the official website.

Some of the topics discussed at the summit were "Economic Empowerment," "Leadership & Civic Engagement," and "Violence Against Women." The trending #stateofwomen hashtag has been used in tweets such as these:

It makes PETA's use of the hashtag all the more bizarre.

This is not the first time PETA or their president has come under scrutiny.

In 2010, writer Jenna Sauers of Jezebel wrote a piece titled "Ingrid Newkirk is the Worst Person in the World," detailing some of PETA's most controversial tactics. This includes a protest PETA staged in 2009 against the Westminster Dog Show where their protesters dressed as members of the KKK. They also released a commercial aimed at the American Kennel Club drawing comparisons between the KKK and dog breeders.

PETA also drew ire when they launched a campaign in 2003 comparing eating animals to the Holocaust (they called it "Holocaust On Your Plate"). The Anti-Defamation League released a statement from their national director, Abraham Foxman, a Holocaust survivor. "The effort by PETA to compare the deliberate, systematic murder of millions of Jews to the issue of animal rights is abhorrent," he said. Two years later, Newkirk apologized.

In 2005, PETA faced racism charges for their campaign, "Animal Liberation" that compared images of slavery with images of animals, as well as juxtaposing photos of black civil rights protestors being beaten by police with photos of seals being clubbed.

"Black people in America have had quite enough of being compared to animals without PETA joining in," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project with the Southern Poverty Law Center, in response to the ad.

Eleven years later, PETA tweeted a quote from Malcolm X that did not go over well.

PETA/Twitter - twitter.com

[H/T Jezebel]