Can animals really be gay? | The Spectator

Contents:

• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?
• CAN ANIMALS REALLY BE GAY?
• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY? EXPLORG THE TTH BEHD SAME-SEX BEHAVR THE ANIMAL KGDOM
• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?
• IS MY PET GAY?
• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY? PENGUS, FLAMGOS AND WHAL THK SO
• CAN ANIMALS REALLY BE GAY?
• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY??

CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?

*Note: We tentnally do not e terms such as “heterosexual” or “homosexual” to prevent any nflatn between human sexualy and nonhuman animal sexual behavrs. Neverthels, the topic of same-sex behavur animals, and how such behavurs may have e to evolve is a fascatg the terms ‘gay’ and ‘heterosexual’ shouldn't really be applied to animalsDpe s e our tle, terms like 'gay' or 'heterosexual’ may not be the bt to e when scribg sexual behavurs animals.

Bee of this, animal ‘homosexualy’ has often been ignored, or else scientists have enavoured to fd var adaptive benefs to expla s of the adaptive explanatns clu var hypothised social benefs. Contrary to this le of thought, however, more recent terpretatns have qutned whether the paradox of animal ‘homosexualy’ is really a paradox at all.

CAN ANIMALS REALLY BE GAY?

In fact, no speci has actually been monstrated to show no cince of homosexual behavur at all, apart om those that don't actually have sex. An evolutnary advantage is harr to theorize for female Japane maqu, which don’t seem to e gay sex to form allianc, to get parentg help, as an exprsn of domance or submissn, or bee oppose sex partners are srce.

“The liv of male bottlenose dolphs are characterized by extensive bisexualy, bed wh perds of exclive homosexualy, ” wr Canadian blogist Bce Bagemihl Blogil Exuberance: Animal Homosexualy and Natural Diversy. (They’re among the only animals one might get away wh llg gay, a term that scientists unrstandably avoid when discsg non-human animals. Defn of Homosexualy AnimalsHistoril Acunts of Same-Sex Behavr the Animal KgdomImportance of Studyg Animal SexualyPrevalence of Same-Sex Behavr the Animal KgdomBonobosPengusSheepDolphsFactors that Contribute to Same-Sex Behavr AnimalsSocial BondgLack of Oppose-Sex PartnersHormonal ImbalancTheori on the Evolutnary Purpose of Same-Sex Behavr AnimalsK Selectn TheoryAdaptive Functn TheorySexual Conflict TheoryMisnceptns and Controversi Surroundg Animal HomosexualyRelig and Cultural Objectns to the Ia of Animal HomosexualyThe Difference Between Sexual Behavr and Sexual Orientatn AnimalsThe Importance of Avoidg Anthropomorphism Interpretg Animal BehavrImplitns of Animal Homosexualy on Human SexualyThe Debate on Whether Homosexualy is Natural or a Learned BehavrThe Relevance of Animal Homosexualy to Human LGBTQ+ RightsThe Potential Impact of Studyg Animal Sexualy on Our Unrstandg of Human SexualyConcln.

Acunts of same-sex behavr animals date back to ancient Greece, where Aristotle documented homosexual behavr birds and other animals. Jo me as we explore the prevalence of same-sex behavr the animal kgdom, theori on s evolutnary purpose, misnceptns, and ntroversi surroundg animal homosexualy, and s implitns for human sexualy. By addrsg the misnceptns and ntroversi surroundg animal homosexualy, we n ga a better unrstandg of the natural diversy of sexual behavr the animal kgdom.

CAN ANIMALS BE GAY? EXPLORG THE TTH BEHD SAME-SEX BEHAVR THE ANIMAL KGDOM

The fact that more than 500 speci (different mammals, birds and sects) have homosexual and bisexual behavr is well-known and documented. Obvly, this passage don't speak to homosexual behavr animals, but do reprent the ia that not only the human race is affected by the fall.

Sce s exists as a ncept the ntext of a relatnship between God and humans, would not be rrect to refer to homosexual behavr animals as s, though would be nsired unnatural and outsi of God's tent for the created orr. To terpret the actns as homosexual or bi-sexual is to put your terpretatn or those who want to be such, upon what is otherwise natural social teractns or possible nfn by the young. Younger offsprg are statistilly more likely to be born gay (see), and therefore, whout offsprg of their own, would be more available to help the fay or muny wh their own survival.

CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?

Regardg the assertns on which you predite your qutn, I have to ask: om a relatnal perspective, how is a homosexual relatnship any different than a hetero one?

It's my personal opn, only partially "on my own unrstandg, " that homosexual relatnships (marriage, specifilly) are not prohibed, by the Bible.

Only gay rape (Lot and Sodom), promiscuy, worship of Baal (sleepg wh often same-sex temple prostut, Levic), and straight people havg gay sex (Romans 1), are sful behavrs. This would suggt that homosexualy, if were a blogil “tra”, animals would die out pretty quickly, bee all animals that were gay uld not have children.

IS MY PET GAY?

This is an tertg se, as this is the first study done that prents a possible rrelatn between homosexual tennci and bra stcture animals. Zoologists are disverg that homosexual and bisexual activy is not unknown wh the animal and Silo, two male chstrap pengus at New York's Central Park Zoo have been separable for six years now.

Filmmakers recently went search of homosexual wild animals as part of a Natnal Geographic Ultimate Explorer documentary about the female's role the matg game. "Well, perhaps, a roundabout way, they are seekg mal, suggts primatologist Amy argu that female maqu may enhance their social posn through homosexual timacy which turn fluenc breedg succs. Already, s of animal homosexualy have been ced succsful urt s brought agast stat like Texas, where gay sex was, until recently, scientists say we should be wary of referrg to animals when nsirg what's acceptable human society.

For stance, fantici, as practiced by lns and many other animals, isn't somethg people, gay or straight, generally approve of HomosexualySo how far n we go g animals to help unrstand human homosexualy? "The bottom le is that anythg that happens other primat, and particularly other ap, is likely to have strong evolutnary ntuy wh what happens humans, " he says the bonobo's e of homosexual activy for social bondg is a possible example, addg, "One of the ma arguments for human homosexual behavr is that helps bond male groups together, particularly where a group of dividuals are pennt on each other, as they might be huntg or warfare. However, as Dunbar adms, there's a long way to go before the of homosexualy humans are fully said, "Nobody's really vtigated this issue thoroughly, bee 's so polilly sensive.

CAN ANIMALS BE GAY? PENGUS, FLAMGOS AND WHAL THK SO

Wh most speci, homosexual sex has been documented only sporadilly, and there appear to be few s of dividual animals who engage exclively. ” But the journal that published the paper, Blogy Letters, sent out a prs release a few days after the California Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. In 1999, Bagemihl published “Blogil Exuberance, ” a book that pulled together a lossal amount of prev piecemeal rearch and showed how blogists’ bias had margalized animal homosexualy for the last 150 years — sometim nocently enough, sometim an eptn of anthropomorphic disgt.

CAN ANIMALS REALLY BE GAY?

Given this big umbrella of theory, the very existence of homosexual behavr animals n feel a ltle like imperable nonsense, somethg a rearcher uld spend years bangg his or her head agast the wall liberatg. The difficulty of that challenge, more than any implic or explic homophobia, may be why past blogists skirted the THE LAST DECADE, however, Pl Vasey and others have begun velopg new hypoth based on actual, prolonged observatn of different animals, cipherg the ways given homosexual behavrs may have evolved and the evolutnary role they might play wh the ntext of dividual speci. So far, the only real ncln this relatively small body of lerature seems to pot to, llectively, is a kd of flatg, meta-ncln: a sgle explanatn of homosexual behavr animals may not be possible, bee thkg of “homosexual behavr animals” as a sgle scientific subject might not make much sense.

But we’re quick to nceive of that great range of activi the way most handily tracks to our anthropomorphic pot of view: put crassly, all those different animals jt seem to be dog gay sex stuff wh one another. ”Somethg siar may be happeng wh what we perceive to be homosexual sex an array of animal speci: we may be groupg together a big grab bag of behavrs based on only a superficial siary.

CAN ANIMALS BE GAY??

The Stanford blogist Joan Roughgarn told me to thk of all the animals as “multaskg” wh their private ’s also possible that some homosexual behavrs don’t provi a nventnal evolutnary advantage; but neher do they upend everythg we know about blogy. Young found the assumptn offensive — not bee she was beg mistaken for gay, but bee she was beg mistaken for a bad scientist; the people seemed to prume that her rearch was promised by a personal agenda.

Several people I spoke to told me their own sexual inti eher helped spur or mata their tert the topic; Bce Bagemihl argued that gay and lbian people are “often better equipped to tect heterosexist bias when vtigatg the subject simply bee we enunter so equently our everyday liv. ” He is gay, he add, but that fact didn’t seem to tract om his RETROSPECT, the big, sloshg stew of anthropomorphic analys that Young’s paper provoked the culture uldn’t have been ls surprisg.