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What you’re referring to are legal classifications that prevent discrimination in very specific circumstances such as when applying for a job. When someone decides to make fun of vegans they absolutely DO NOT think to themselves “is that a legally protected class? No? Okay, I’m in the clear.” This reasoning is blatantly incorrect.
If this were the actual reason then why do people also discriminate against groups that are protected classes like women? The answer is because we aren’t in a court. We are talking about social values, not legal ones. Despite how much of a fucking asshole it would make someone to be misogynistic in their daily life there is nothing preventing them from doing so other than the fear of being outcast by their peers. It only becomes illegal in very specific circumstances.
To add onto your already excellent answer, another reason that going vegan for purely health reasons doesn’t make sense is that, as you said, veganism isn’t a diet. Or more specifically, the ethical stance that is veganism includes more considerations than just food. Someone that eats plant based foods only may not care about things like leather or other animal products that they may use on a daily basis that aren’t part of their diet. That person wouldn’t be vegan, but rather simply eating a plant based diet. I don’t mean to be pedantic but that is the distinction between being vegan and eating a plant based diet and there is no reason to be entirely vegan for health reasons alone unless you want to take it to the extreme and say that you don’t use animal products like leather because the animal agriculture industry creates pandemics and contributes significantly towards global warming. Despite those being perfectly valid (and important) reasons to be vegan I think that it’s a bit of a stretch to call those personal health reasons.
I’d also just like to add that nutritional yeast is a great source of vitamin B12 and is naturally vegan.