Contents:
- BEG GAY IS NATURAL: JT ASK BONOBOS (OP-ED)
- CAN MONKEYS BE GAY? WHAT HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR PRIMAT CAN TELL US ABOUT THE EVOLUTN OF HUMAN SEXUALY
BEG GAY IS NATURAL: JT ASK BONOBOS (OP-ED)
Unlike chimps, bonobos are naturally bisexual—and happily engage homosexual acts for enjoyment, to solve nflicts, and to get ahead the tribe. One of the big arguments put forward agast homosexualy is that ’s unnatural, a viatn of the human md. Acrdg to Natnal Geographic, around 75 percent of bonobo sex is non-reproductive—and that clus an enormo amount of homosexual uplgs.
Now, jt bee bonobos are remarkably progrsive where homosexualy is ncerned don’t mean their behavr translat to humans. Over the past 20 years, a burst of rearch — driven part by a new generatn of scientists more acceptg of queerns — has shown signifint amounts of prevly unreported homosexual behavr throughout the animal kgdom, om flour beetl to gorillas. While few animals are exclively “gay” or “lbian, ” an extraordary number, appears, engage some form of same-sex relatns.
CAN MONKEYS BE GAY? WHAT HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR PRIMAT CAN TELL US ABOUT THE EVOLUTN OF HUMAN SEXUALY
Christian theologians have long poted to the absence of animal homosexualy as evince that humans oughtn’t to be dog , eher. Thirteenth-century philosopher and prit Thomas Aquas argued that homosexual behavr humans is wrong precisely bee don’t occur between animals. Gee Murray Levick, the explorer who wrote about homosexual behavr Adélie pengus 1911, shield his observatns of pengu “pravy” om sual observers by rerdg them his field not g the Greek alphabet — and they were still cut om the official expedn reports.
A proment mammalogist, Valeri Geist, uldn’t help but notice equent homosexual sex at his bighorn sheep field se the 1960s, but Geist avoid publishg those fdgs bee ma him “crge … to nceive of those magnificent beasts as ‘queers. ’ ” Years later he relented, wrg that he eventually “admted that the rams lived sentially a homosexual society.