Music has always been my protection against the world from a very young age. I feel safe inside of a jam.
Just as we reject racism sexism ageism and heterosexism we reject speciesism. The species of a sentient being is no more reason to deny the protection of this basic right than race sex age or sexual orientation is a reason to deny membership in the human moral community to other humans.
Age does not protect you from love. But love to some extent protects you from age.
I was a woman in a man's world. I was a Democrat in a Republican administration. I was an intellectual in a world of bureaucrats. I talked differently. This may have made me a bit like an ink blot.