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Homosexuality is a naturally occurring thing.
Love That Dare Not Squeak Its Name
By DINITIA SMITH
Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in
Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For nearly six years
now, they have been inseparable. They exhibit what in penguin parlance
is called "ecstatic behavior": that is, they entwine their necks, they
vocalize to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to
anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins. When offered female
companionship, they have adamantly refused it. And the females aren't
interested in them, either.
At one time, the two seemed so desperate to incubate an egg together
that they put a rock in their nest and sat on it, keeping it warm in
the folds of their abdomens, said their chief keeper, Rob Gramzay.
Finally, he gave them a fertile egg that needed care to hatch. Things
went perfectly. Roy and Silo sat on it for the typical 34 days until a
chick, Tango, was born. For the next two and a half months they raised
Tango, keeping her warm and feeding her food from their beaks until she
could go out into the world on her own. Mr. Gramzay is full of praise
for them.
"They did a great job," he said. He was standing inside the glassed-in
penguin exhibit, where Roy and Silo had just finished lunch. Penguins
usually like a swim after they eat, and Silo was in the water. Roy had
finished his dip and was up on the beach.
Roy and Silo are hardly unusual. Milou and Squawk, two young males, are
also beginning to exhibit courtship behavior, hanging out with each
other, billing and bowing. Before them, the Central Park Zoo had
Georgey and Mickey, two female Gentoo penguins who tried to incubate
eggs together. And Wendell and Cass, a devoted male African penguin
pair, live at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island. Indeed, scientists
have found homosexual behavior throughout the animal world.
This growing body of science has been increasingly drawn into charged
debates about homosexuality in American society, on subjects from gay
marriage to sodomy laws, despite reluctance from experts in the field
to extrapolate from animals to humans. Gay groups argue that if
homosexual behavior occurs in animals, it is natural, and therefore the
rights of homosexuals should be protected. On the other hand, some
conservative religious groups have condemned the same practices in the
past, calling them "animalistic."
But if homosexuality occurs among animals, does that necessarily mean
that it is natural for humans, too? And that raises a familiar
question: if homosexuality is not a choice, but a result of natural
forces that cannot be controlled, can it be immoral?
The open discussion of homosexual behavior in animals is relatively
new. "There has been a certain cultural shyness about admitting it,"
said Frans de Waal, whose 1997 book, "Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape"
(University of California Press), unleashed a torrent of discussion
about animal sexuality. Bonobos, apes closely related to humans, are
wildly energetic sexually. Studies show that whether observed in the
wild or in captivity, nearly all are bisexual, and nearly half their
sexual interactions are with the same sex. Female bonobos have been
observed to engage in homosexual activity almost hourly.
Before his own book, "American scientists who investigated bonobos
never discussed sex at all," said Mr. de Waal, director of the Living
Links Center of the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University in
Atlanta. "Or they sometimes would show two females having sex together,
and would say, `The females are very affectionate.' "
Then in 1999, Bruce Bagemihl published "Biological Exuberance: Animal
Homosexuality and Natural Diversity" (St. Martin's Press), one of the
first books of its kind to provide an overview of scholarly studies of
same-sex behavior in animals. Mr. Bagemihl said homosexual behavior had
been documented in some 450 species. (Homosexuality, he says, refers to
any of these behaviors between members of the same sex: long-term
bonding, sexual contact, courtship displays or the rearing of young.)
Last summer the book was cited by the American Psychiatric Association
and other groups in a "friend of the court" brief submitted to the
Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, a case challenging a Texas
anti-sodomy law. The court struck down the law.
"Sexual Exuberance" was also cited in 2000 by gay rights groups opposed
to Ballot Measure 9, a proposed Oregon statute prohibiting teaching
about homosexuality or bisexuality in public schools. The measure lost.
In his book Mr. Bagemihl describes homosexual activity in a broad
spectrum of animals. He asserts that while same-sex behavior is
sometimes found in captivity, it is actually seen more frequently in
studies of animals in the wild.
Among birds, for instance, studies show that 10 to 15 percent of
female western gulls in some populations in the wild are homosexual.
Females perform courtship rituals, like tossing their heads at each
other or offering small gifts of food to each other, and they establish
nests together. Occasionally they mate with males and produce fertile
eggs but then return to their original same-sex partners. Their bonds,
too, may persist for years.
Among mammals, male and female bottlenose dolphins frequently engage
in homosexual activity, both in captivity and in the wild.
Homosexuality is particularly common among young male dolphin calves.
One male may protect another that is resting or healing from wounds
inflicted by a predator. When one partner dies, the other may search
for a new male mate. Researchers have noted that in some cases same-sex
behavior is more common for dolphins in captivity.
Male and female rhesus macaques, a type of monkey, also exhibit
homosexuality in captivity and in the wild. Males are affectionate to
each other, touching, holding and embracing. Females smack their lips
at each other and play games like hide-and-seek, peek-a-boo and follow
the leader. And both sexes mount members of their own sex.
Paul L. Vasey, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the
University of Lethbridge in Canada, who studies homosexual behavior in
Japanese macaques, is editing a new book on homosexual behavior in
animals, to be published by Cambridge University Press. This kind of
behavior among animals has been observed by scientists as far back as
the 1700's, but Mr. Vasey said one reason there had been few books on
the topic was that "people don't want to do the research because they
don't want to have suspicions raised about their sexuality."
Some scientists say homosexual behavior in animals is not necessarily
about sex. Marlene Zuk, a professor of biology at the University of
California at Riverside and author of "Sexual Selections: What We Can
and Can't Learn About Sex From Animals" (University of California
Press, 2002), notes that scientists have speculated that homosexuality
may have an evolutionary purpose, ensuring the survival of the species.
By not producing their own offspring, homosexuals may help support or
nurture their relatives' young. "That is a contribution to the gene
pool," she said.
For Janet Mann, a professor of biology and psychology at Georgetown
University, who has studied same-sex behavior in dolphin calves, their
homosexuality "is about bond formation," she said, "not about being
sexual for life."
She said that studies showed that adult male dolphins formed long-term
alliances, sometimes in large groups. As adults, they cooperate to
entice a single female and keep other males from her. Sometimes they
share the female, or they may cooperate to help one male. "Male-male
cooperation is extremely important," Ms. Mann said. The homosexual
behavior of the young calves "could be practicing" for that later,
crucial adult period, she added.
But, scientists say, just because homosexuality is observed in animals
doesn't mean that it is only genetically based. "Homosexuality is
extraordinarily complex and variable," Mr. Bagemihl said. "We look at
animals as pure biology and pure genetics, and they are not." He noted
that "the occurrence of same-sex behavior in animals provides support
for the nurture side as well." He cited as an example the ruff, a type
of Arctic sandpiper. There are four different classes of male ruffs,
each differing from the others genetically. The two that differ most
from each other are most similar in their homosexual behaviors.
Ms. Zuk said, "You have inclinations that are more or less supported
by our genes and in some environmental circumstances get expressed."
She used the analogy of right- or left-handedness, thought to be
genetically based. "But you can teach naturally left-handed children to
use their right hand," she pointed out.
Still, scientists warn about drawing conclusions about humans. "For
some people, what animals do is a yardstick of what is and isn't
natural," Mr. Vasey said. "They make a leap from saying if it's
natural, it's morally and ethically desirable."
But he added: "Infanticide is widespread in the animal kingdom. To jump
from that to say it is desirable makes no sense. We shouldn't be using
animals to craft moral and social policies for the kinds of human
societies we want to live in. Animals don't take care of the elderly. I
don't particularly think that should be a platform for closing down
nursing homes."
Mr. Bagemihl is also wary of extrapolating. "In Nazi Germany, one very
common interpretation of homosexuality was that it was animalistic
behavior, subhuman," he said.
What the animal studies do show, Ms. Zuk observed, is that "sexuality
is a lot broader term than people want to think."
"You have this idea that the animal kingdom is strict, old-fashioned
Roman Catholic," she said, "that they have sex just to procreate."
In bonobos, she noted, "you see expressions of sex outside the period
when females are fertile. Suddenly you are beginning to see that sex is
not necessarily about reproduction."
"Sexual expression means more than making babies," Ms. Zuk said. "Why
are we surprised? People are animals."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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sheer idiocy
