My friend Irina forwarded me this fascinating link today; you can view the story at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15750604/.Apparently there is now a gay animal museum that displays 51 examples of animal homosexuality. It has some pretty well known examples of gay animals, including Bonobos and whales. The article also briefs over the multiple reasons members of an animal species might be gay (pleasure, dominance, networking, etc).
The most interesting thing I read though is about gay animal
couples. Because when the issue of homosexual animals (other than humans, that is) comes up, we always hear about the dogs humping and the bonobos rubbing up against each other but less is said about something resembling an actual relationship similar to one that would occur between a male and female couple of the same species. I've read a lot about the bonobos (you can read my blog about them and homosexuality
here) but emphasis is always on the sexual aspect of their homosexual relationships. In this article however, it mentions how some animals actually have gay couples that raise young together! I hadn't really been aware that this happens.
For example. Apparently, almost a QUARTER of black swan families are raised by homosexual couples! Is that not the coolest thing? I always loved black swans as a kid- now I love them even more! It's so cute!
It's sad though that I have to read random articles on the internet to realize this.
"Like most complex issues, animal homosexuality is challenging and poorly understood. Therefore, educators tend to shy away from covering it in their teaching."
Hear, hear. I think this is something high school biology classes should not forget to cover, because it's pretty important, and if kids are taught from an early age that there are multiple reasons animals have sex besides reproduction, a lot of misconceptions will clear the stage.
Here's an additional link to gay black swan info:
http://www.esquire.com/the-side/gayanimals030707-3that link is actually pretty cool because it has multiple examples of homosexuality among animals (including flamingos and the koala!)
an interesting line about the swans there: "These homosexual couples are frequently better-suited to parenting than their heterosexual counterparts -- as two males, they can secure a bigger territory."
oooh. I guess at least in the REST of the animal kingdom, gays aren't necessarily considered to make bad parents. ;3
Comments (113)
gay swans, ftw
i find animal homosexuality fascinating personally. i dunno why.
Interesting..I never knew some of this stuff.
that's awesome lol
You mean those homosexual blank swan couples beat up the girl swans, steal their food and starve their childern.
Reminds me of South Park and Gay Al. Pretty awesome.
I'm not sure if it was on xanga or the news but somebody recently drew attention to two male penguins who adopted and raised a penguin egg at a zoo and ignored the females who were introduced in an effort to un-gay-ify them.
This is really awesome! Thanks for sharing!
They're so fuzzy! :D
:)
this is freaking awesome! seriously. I thought it was a joke of a second and then I was like, wait, this is wicked!
I really like this article, and thing it should be taught to others, i mean, I never had any clue and animal homosexuality. seriously.
Im recommending it. :)
This is awesome. I had no idea! [:
Thanks for sharing this!
that is so interesting since this is one of THE largest arguments.
Thanks!
Your Pulse picture is misleading for one. Jesus had a Heavenly Father, and an adoptive earthly father. But neither God or Joseph were gay, let alone in any kind of romantic relations of that nature. So now you're using lies to drive traffic to your site.
Also, this still does not support anything for the gay lifestyle. It merely shows "similarities". Animals opperate on instinct and instinct alone. They are not held to a moral obligation like we humans are. Using "gay animals" as veiled support for gay parenting, as it SEEMS you're doing, is ultimately ignoring the bigger issue: what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong.
But I will take a step back here. Even if all you're really trying to do is pass on some interesting info, what is the point?
this is really cool
i'm gay and it makes me happy that animals are too
:D
...my comment earlier, as I re-read it, sounded more critical than I intended. I dearly apologize for that. Last thing I wanted to do was even sound judgmental. That was the furthest thing from my mind.
@NaitoOfNarnia - i don't think it was that misleading. He did have two fathers, and I primarily blog about gay rights stuff, and God. This post was only about gays, obviously. Sorry if you felt jipped or something though.
and 90% of what we deem to be "choice" is in fact instinct. and at any rate, I don't think there's anything wrong with being gay... as one could probably surmise.
the point is that we and the rest of the animal kingdom are more similar than we think, and that some arguments against gay rights just don't make sense.
@NaitoOfNarnia - no problem... i probably could have chose a better picture so it's my own fault as far as that was concerned. I was just looking for something funny to post up there.
@trunthepaige - haha...well... maybe some of them do that XD
@ScarletMoth - The insinuation - with the mention of homosexuality, Jesus having two fathers, and the rainbow, which has become the symbol of the gay community - is that because Jesus had two fathers then homosexuality is okay by God. This is the insinuation that your Plug seemed to be giving. I admit, I've only ever read this entry. However, it is my hope that you're not asserting that God is okay with homosexuality. If that is your view, you are not speaking of the God I know. And clearly, the world is full of different views of who God really is. But there is only one real God...they can't all be true given they are all different.
And no matter how "similar" we are to other animals, that is still a failed argument, for we are NOT animals. God gave us humans a specific command to abstain from sexual immorality - no such commands are given to animals, therefore whatever the reason that some animals engage in homosexuality is a moot point. But humans do have a moral obligation. So this "gay rights" matter is a falacy in light of God's law, which supercedes man's laws. The idea is that we have a freedom to choose, which we do have a God-given right to do. But we do not have a freedom to abuse that right to choose. If you reference God, you must either reference the real God or the man-made idea of Him. If you claim you are referencing the real God then your claim for gay rights fails because the real God is not for homosexuality.
OMG just another reason to love swans, and more and more reasons to be proud of being gay. Not so much human pride, because people suck, but gay pride at least.
/has a new favourite
@NaitoOfNarnia - stfu about the plug, comment the blog.
@HeartOfPandora - I will comment as I see fit. Unless you would not mind acting that of the hypocrite, in which you saw fit to comment on MY comment...YOUR comment having nothing to do with the blog but rather my comment.
@ScarletMoth - Well, in the effort to show good humor, I must say it was...well, from your perspective, quite interesting. *chuckles* Creative...all morality aside for the moment. Definitely creative. :)
@NaitoOfNarnia - Actually, replying to you was the second comment I made.
@HeartOfPandora - I noticed. Yet if you wish to push that I comment on the blog alone - even though the Plug, itself, was directly related to the blog - then you should also put your own words into action and refrain from commenting about anything not DIRECTLY related to the blog. Instead, you decided to cuss me out because you didn't like what ALL I had to say. So either do what you expect me to do, yourself, or...as you said, shut up. (But in all seriousness, I would never tell you to be quiet. I would respect your right to make comments as you see fit...though I would HOPE you'd do so respectfully next time.)