February 7th, 2004
When Gay Animals Attack
Interesting NY Times story:
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.What implications does this have for humans? None:
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.
2 Responses to “When Gay Animals Attack”
Excellent point!
That argument should not be made, however, to ignore the physiological, nonvolitional causes of homosexuality that the case may illustrate.
By Trey Givens February 10th, 2004 at 5:47 am
That’s rather hypocritical. First, infanticide is a not the equivalent of sexuality. Secondly, homosexuality in humans was condemned because it was not seen to be of the natural order among all the creation and thus the natural law was written under a veil of ignorance.
How much longer should the human race stay ignorant of the facts?
By Lynn June 27th, 2004 at 7:12 pm