Vegetables??? Wha? Sperm has long been considered PROTEIN. Lets keep our food groups right.
We are fudging our language here. Surely sperm is life. The question as posed is imprecise as it is begging a question far more complex than whether a sperm is alive. It is asking if what we reserve as 'being human' exits only on the condition of a fertilized egg, or if a sperm (or egg) separate shall be viewed in the same as combined. -Two very different questions.
If a Mars rover uncovered a wiggling, Martian sperm we would immediately declare we have found Life on other planets. End of story. So yes, a sperm is alive, it is 'life.'
Is it the equal of our evolved perception of a human being, as having a soul? Is it a person? That's a moral question that clearly states we have not resolved much beyond the ages old belief that inside the head of a sperm lay a tiny, fully formed baby waiting to be popped into some woman's easy bake oven. Religion and science got it wrong then. We're probably closer now, understanding DNA and all. But not quite all there. Mysteries remain.
A sperm is a self contained, living entity with a very limited life span, able to survive in only the most limited of conditions. It has one purpose for that brief life. To deliver half a human DNA strand to another half a human DNA strand.
As a self contained entity, alive, capable of motion, with its own purpose, we could probably best see them as tiny little 'friends.' Lots and lots of tiny little friends.
I like to share my friends with your friends. Yes?