Gay is NOT against nature
Someone said that being gay was against nature. This is obviously not true as homosexuality runs through the animal kingdom. I will cut and paste information from this site to back it up: http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives...0750.Zo.r.html
Re: Could an animal be homosexual?
Date: Sun May 28 14:47:28 2000
Posted By: A.E., Undergraduate, Cell biology and genetics, University of British Columbia
Area of science: Zoology
ID: 957229910.Zo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message:
Hi Adam.
Indeed some animals are, at least according to observations by some
scientists, in particular, Bruce Bagemihl.
Here's a complete article from the Time Magazine. I found it at:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...,23309,00.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Gay Side of Nature
Even as moralists and activists continue to debate homosexuality, many
species casually practice it
BY JEFFREY KLUGER
Giraffes do it, goats do it, birds and bonobos and dolphins do it. Humans
beings--a lot of them anyway--like to do it too, but of all the planet's
species, they're the only ones who are oppressed when they try.
What humans share with so many other animals, it now appears, is
freewheeling homosexuality. For centuries opponents of gay rights have
seen same-gender sex as a uniquely human phenomenon, one of the many ways
our famously corruptible species flouts the laws of nature. But nature's
morality, it seems, may be remarkably flexible, at least if the new book
Biological Exuberance (St. Martin's Press), by linguist and cognitive
scientist Bruce Bagemihl, is to be believed. According to Bagemihl, the
animal kingdom is a more sexually complex place than most people know--one
where couplings routinely take place not just between male-female pairs
but also between male-male and female-female ones. What's more, same-sex
partners don't meet merely for brief encounters, but may form long-term
bonds, sometimes mating for years or even for life.
Bagemihl's ideas have caused a stir in the higher, human community,
especially among scientists who find it simplistic to equate any animal
behavior with human behavior. But Bagemihl stands behind the findings,
arguing that if homosexuality comes naturally to other creatures, perhaps
it's time to quit getting into such a lather over the fact that it comes
naturally to humans too. "Animal sexuality is more complex than we
imagined," says Bagemihl. "That diversity is part of human heritage."
For a love that long dared not speak its name, animal homosexuality is
astonishingly common. Scouring zoological journals and conducting
extensive interviews with scientists, Bagemihl found same-sex pairings
documented in more than 450 different species. In a world teeming with
more than 1 million species, that may not seem like much. Animals,
however, can be surprisingly prim about when and under whose prying eye
they engage in sexual activity; as few as 2,000 species have thus been
observed closely enough to reveal their full range of coupling behavior.
Within such a small sampling, 450 represents more than 20%.
That 20% may spend its time lustily or quite tenderly. Among bonobos, a
chimplike ape, homosexual pairings account for as much as 50% of all
sexual activity. Females especially engage in repeated acts of same-sex
sex, spending far more than the 12 or so seconds the whole transaction can
take when a randy male is involved. Male giraffes practice necking--
literally--in a very big way, entwining their long bodies until both
partners become sexually aroused. Heterosexual and homosexual dolphin
pairs engage in face-to-face sexual encounters that look altogether human.
Animals as diverse as elephants and rodents practice same-sex mounting,
and macaques raise that affection ante further, often kissing while
assuming a coital position. Same-gender sexual activity, says Bagemihl,
"encompasses a wide range of forms."
What struck Bagemihl most is those forms that go beyond mere sexual
gratification. Humboldt penguins may have homosexual unions that last six
years; male greylag geese may stay paired for 15 years--a lifetime
commitment when you've got the lifespan of a goose. Bears and some other
mammals may bring their young into homosexual unions, raising them with
their same-sex partner just as they would with a member of the opposite
sex.
But witnessing same-sex activity and understanding it are two different
things, and some experts believe observers like Bagemihl are misreading
the evidence. In species that lack sophisticated language--which is to say
all species but ours--sex serves many nonsexual purposes, including
establishing alliances and appeasing enemies, all things animals must do
with members of both sexes. "Sexuality helps animals maneuver around each
other before making real contact," says Martin Daly, an evolutionary
psychologist at McMaster University in Ontario. "Putting all that into a
homosexual category seems simplistic."
Even if some animals do engage in homosexual activity purely for pleasure,
their behavior still serves as an incomplete model--and an incomplete
explanation--for human behavior. "In our society homosexuality means a
principal or exclusive orientation," says psychology professor Frans de
Waal of the Yerkes Primate Center in Atlanta. "Among animals it's just
nonreproductive sexual behavior."
Whether any of this turns out to be good for the gay and lesbian community
is unclear. While the new findings seem to support the idea that
homosexuality is merely a natural form of sexual expression, Bagemihl
believes such political questions may be beside the point. "We shouldn't
have to look to the animal world to see what's normal or ethical," he
says. Indeed, when it comes to answering those questions, Mother Nature
seems to be keeping an open mind. END
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
For something more try this website:
http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19990807/queercreat.html
I found the following article funny and amusing so you should try it.
It's about Dashik and Yahuda, two male vultures, who have raised two baby
birds.
Here's the address:
http://www.cnn.com/NATURE/9909/18/ga...nts/index.html
And finally here's the address to my own website for further links and
opinions.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/7063
Arash E.
Cellular Biology and Genetics
University of British Columbia
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by DDLForce
Bookmarks