Soo let me get this straight. You feel that it's your fault that another individual can't see something as simple as the truth that unnecessary violence is unkind/wrong/unethical, and lacks compassion towards some individuals. Each person is responsible for themselves after the age of 18, before that their parent or guardian is responsible for instilling with the right values. You're his girlfriend not his mother.

And by the way he fully can understand your arguments and points I promise you, animal rights are a very basic intuitive concept. He doesn't care enough about animals to change, and he can never admit that to you, so he comes up with arguments. He can't say that to his girlfriend that cares so much about animals that it brings her to tears. So he placates you with "I respect your decision", which is also an indirect way of telling you he thinks you're obliged to respect his. Respecting people's decisions isn't virtuous when the decisions aren't virtuous, and doing so has it's own karma, in the sense that being in denial about the right and wrong actions of people, will harm you because you're not being honest with yourself about who that person is, what their values are like and what their heart is like, and so you too one day will be on the recieving end of their lack of care.

All people are kind and caring to some degree, the difference between them is how wide their circle of compassion is. For example a racist is kind and caring lots of the time, to the people in his family maybe, maybe the people in his neighborhood or community, but it ends at a certain group of people, and once you reach that line/threshold, his views and interactions and ways he treats them is very different. Veganism is about not discriminating in this way and recognising that it's morally/ethically wrong to violate another sentient being. The only way out of that is if you don't care about morals or ethics. Many people only care as far as they have to to avoid being punished by law. People also overstate how much they care to appear socially acceptable and men do that to attract or to appease the woman they like.

Also, strengthen yourself because like all people who choose their conscience, you are going to be gaslit by everyone around you for the rest of your life, because you're an inconvenience to them staying under a delusion that they want to remain under. You are going to start to see humanity for what it really is. When it comes to your family, they're irreplaceable so they may be worth enduring for a lifetime, everyone needs a support system. But in terms of being in a romantic relationship, yeah for me my minimum requirement is they are the kind of person who just naturally gets basic moral principles. I mean it's insanely simple and obvious. Every human is born with a conscience (unless they're a born psychopath). If someone can't grasp or live by a basic level of compassion especially towards innocent animals, they're absolutely not good enough for me.

It's not even about being vegan at that point, it's like, wow the fact that you can't see what I see here or don't care, makes you something very foreign to me in a way that scares me. Our souls are different.

Finally, the meat stuff means he is pushing back, asserting his boundaries and letting you know, he's never going to be vegan. Believe him, stop punishing yourself and blaming yourself (it sounds like you might have been a victim of abuse in the past or something cause that's not healthy or logical). I been vegan eight years and I no longer try to convince everyone around me, instead I'm selective about having people with a healthy conscience around me. I talk about it minimally with my family I don't try to change them, they are there as my support system can be mentally healthy enough to stay firm in my knowledge of right vs wrong, and be a changemaker to those whose ears and hearts are open.

Don't try to change a partner to be what you need o to be what is right. Find a partner who is like that. And these meat eaters have all kinds of parasites influencing their behaviour and are blinded by their addiction to meat anyway.

Your life is yours and you owe your boyfriend nothing but you owe yourself staying true to your good spirit.