Criticism before saying anything

I need to complain about this but I can’t complain in any group of my friends because they’ll probably brush me off.

I’m part of a little club and I’m the leader of said club. We were discussing other clubs in my university that disbanded and I mentioned that I missed the veggie/vegan club.

Immediately as I do so, the newer members of the group said something along the lines of ‘good, all vegans are annoying anyway’ and then I mentioned that I was vegan only to get the response ‘but you’re not loud, you’re one of the good ones’.

Like??? What??? I’m pretty vocal about being vegan and the benefits it has for me personally considering my illnesses, and also animal welfare is deeply important for me. I always find that non-vegans are louder about veganism than vegans are.

Is there any good comebacks if this happens in the future? I’d like to be polite about things.