The universe is not only queerer than we
suppose, it is queerer than we can suppose.
ق evolutionary biologist J. B. S. HALDANE
Male gorillas courting and copulating with each other ... grizzly bear
families with two mothers ... same-sex pairs of flamingos ...
Homosexuality in its myriad forms has been scientifically documented
in more than 450 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and
other animals worldwide. Animals engage in all types of
nonreproductive sexual behavior. Sexual and gender expression in the
animal world displays exuberant variety, including same-sex courtship,
pair-bonding, sex, and co-parenting -- even instances of lifelong
homosexual bonding in species that do not have lifelong heterosexual
bonding.
In a dimly lit undergrowth of a Central American rain forest, jewel-
like male hummingbirds flit through the vegetation, pausing briefly to
mate now with a male, now with a female. A whale glides through the
dark and icy waters of the Arctic, then surges toward the surface in a
playful frenzy of churning water and splashing, her fins and tail
caressing another female. Drifting off to sleep, two male monkeys lie
gently in each other's arms, cradled by one of the ancient jungles of
Asia.
There is an avalanche of data from the animal world which indicates
the need to abandon a traditional point of view, whereby ``same-sex
activity is routinely described as being `forced' on other animals''
or is viewed as a substitute for heterosexual coupling that occurs
only when no other (i.e., no heterosexual) mate can be found as the
first choice of those concerned. A new understanding of animal
relationships should therefore also recognize that not all animal
sexual activity is aimed at reproduction and that we must reconsider
traditional explanations of the links between reproduction, evolution,
and natural selection.
A herd of deer picks its way cautiously through a semidesert scrub of
Texas, each animal simultaneously male but not-quite-male, with half-
developed, velvety antlers and diminutive, fine-boned proportions. In
a protected New Zealand inlet, a pair of female gulls ق mated for life
ق tend their chicks together. Tiny midges swarm above a bleak tundra
of northern Europe, a whirlwind of mating activity as males couple
with each other in midair. Circling and prancing around her partner, a
female antelope courts another female in an ageless, elegant ritual
staged on the African savanna.
All this evidence amounts to an exhaustive, and utterly convincing
refutation of the notion that human homosexuality is an aberration in
nature. Some among us will never be convinced that homosexuality
occurs freely and frequently in nature. But any meticulously and
congently delivered presentation of the current evidence, will quash
any arguments to the contrary.
A great queer science is emerging of late. Two ganders who work
together as a mated pair? Two female bears raising their four cubs
together? A kangaroo with both a female pouch and male sex organs?
Who's been keeping all this a secret? Homosexual mating and pairing
occur in all species.
Our current understanding of biology and evolution has been tainted by
a heterosexually biased interpretation of animal behavior until
recently. New biological definitions of homosexuality include a
diverse range of activities organized under five headings: courtship,
affection, sex, pair-bonding, and parenting.
Past biologists and anthropologists have made their errors in
reportage regarding observations in the field of homosexual behavior
among the beasts (interestingly enough, all homosexual behavior tended
to be called either aggressive or passive, and not about mating or
affection between animals, even though it was often the identical
mating behavior as the heterosexually-oriented animals).
A polysexual, polygendered world are a wondrous bestiary consisting of
portraits of homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered wildlife, which
is quite mind boggling to the hank yankers of the past. Natural
systems are driven as much by abundance and excess as they are by
limitation and practicality. Seen in this light, homosexuality and
nonreproductive heterosexuality are "expected" occurrences ق they are
one manifestation of an overall "extravagance" of biological systems
that has many other expressions.
As concerns the human propogation of genes that assemble tendencies:
Some sociobiologists claim that human homosexuality is the result of a
purely genetic reproductive pattern in which some males, by
demonstrating homosexual behavior, remove themselves from the struggle
for mates that is the main source of conflict in primitive societies.
By serving as peacemakers, homosexuals allow for their close relatives
to produce more offspring. In this way, the homosexuality gene passes
on as a recessive gene to the primitive homosexual's nieces and
nephews.
A second hypothesis is called "Kin Selection". It says that it is not
necessary for homosexuals to pass on their own genes if as in the
first hypothesis they are able to help their parents and siblings as
carriers to pass on the same genes through altruistic behavior thus
enabling them to have more children and more of those children to be
able to survive long enough to reproduce. For a family who has a
matron aunt or philanthropic uncle who strives to help raise their
younger siblings and nieces and nephews the benefit towards an
indirect enhancement to the gay genes fitness is secured.
If a gene that has the potential to reproduce either homo- or hetero-
sexual *tendencies* (heterozygotic) is somehow more fit than one that
is exclusively heterosexual (homozygotic), then the gay gene will be
passed on through heterosexuals who carry the heterozygotic gene. An
example of this is the disease sickle-cell anemia, the heterozygotes
for the sickle-cell gene have a natural immunity to malaria which in
the black heritage made them more fit for survival as a group despite
a 5%% mortality rate from the sickle-cell disease. Ruse (1981)
Some suggest that in human culture, genes for male homosexuality tend
to increase in periods when the culture is dominated by gay-intolerant
stereotypes (*tendencies*) that drive homosexuals underground. Once
homosexuals have been forced into heterosexual unions, they reproduce
the gene for homosexuality, and the genes spread through the
population. Once gays reach a critical mass in society, gay-positive
memes spread, and homosexuals are able to "come out." However,
homosexual unions do not produce offspring, and so the gay population
gradually subsides, starting the cycle of intolerance over again.
Believing that the translation of the Bible they use consists of the
inerrant word of God, some Christians cite a handful of passages to
justify their condemnation of homosexuality. But these believers'
conception of inerrancy is naively based, for English versions of the
originally Hebrew and Greek scriptures are rife with problematic
translations. The supposedly antihomosexual passages are not blanket
condemnations of homosexual persons and acts. In some cases these
verses aren't about homosexuality at all; they meant quite different
things to those for whom they were first written, peoples whose social
conceptions of sexuality were vastly different from ours. We are in
needs of a cogent, accessible precis of these revisionist findings on
the Bible's six major passages and few minor references that seem to
denounce homosexuality. The Bible does not condemn gay sex as we
understand it today, those who seek to know outright if gay or lesbian
sex is good or evil . . . will have to look elsewhere for an answer.
A few reference links...
Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity
by Bruce Bagemihl, John Megahan (Illustrator)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/031225377X/
http://makeashorterlink.com/?C69521381
Queer Science : The Use and Abuse of Research into Homosexuality
by Simon Le Vay, Simon LeVay:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262621193/
The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual
Orientation (Ideologies of Desire)
by Edward Stein
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195142446/
A Natural History of Homosexuality
by Francis Mark Mondimore:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801854407/
What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality
by Daniel A., Ph.D. Helminiak:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/188636009X/
