Two men took their pants off yesterday in front of the State House. To promote vegetarianism.

As the lunchtime crowd of state lawmakers funneled out of their chambers and toward the hot dog cart across the street, PETA activists Mike Brazell and Jonathan Frank stripped down to their heart-patterned boxer shorts, unfurled a banner that read "Vegetarians Make Better Lovers" and, armed with leaflets that told how pigs are castrated without painkillers, stationed themselves at the corner of Capitol and Main streets, 20 paces from a bronzed Franklin Pierce.

Frank's first "Hi, can I give you guys a leaflet?" didn't work. Neither did the next five. Finally, one woman took the literature and gave the pair a compliment: You guys are awesome, she said.

Then Brazell and Frank, who are both gay and both vegans, made out.

"The premise behind the making out is that meat clogs your organs - all of your organs," said Brazell, 29, who spent 10 years as a Navy SEAL and now works for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Virginia. "We say, 'V for vegetarian, not V for Viagra.' "

Brazell and Frank, 18, of North Carolina, came to New Hampshire partly to celebrate the state's recent move to authorize civil unions for gay couples, making it the fourth state to do so. Brazell said they figured they'd try the "naked demonstration," which he's done everywhere from San Francisco to Macon, Ga., to the Granite State, which seemed to them like a pretty compassionate place.

"When the wave of compassion is rolling," Brazell said, "we hope people

extend that same compassion to the animals that are raised and killed for food."

On Main Street, Brazell and Frank found the compassion they were looking for.

No one shouted at them or muttered an insult. Only a few motorists flipped them the bird. The only passers-by to giggle were a group of fourth-graders from Londonderry on a field trip to the State House.

Most people smiled and waved, squinting courteously through the hot midday sun. One shirtless man who drove by in a pickup truck flashed them the peace sign. Even the people who turned down their leaflets did so with a polite, "No thanks." Sometimes even a, "No thanks. Thank you."

Phil Desfosses, a lawyer from Portsmouth in town on business, paid the activists another compliment.

"No," he said when Frank offered him the PETA brochure. "You look good, though."

Brazell and Frank beamed.

"I can't get over how nice people are in this town," Frank said.

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