SOME PENGUINS ARE GAY. GET OVER IT!

This year the London Zoo celebrated Pride month — and its six gay Humboldt penguins — with a banner in the penguin exhibit that said “Some penguins are gay, get over it.”

According to Wiki, Aristotle (384–322 BC) gets the prize for the earliest written mention of non-human animal homosexuality; namely, his citation of same-sex copulation between pigeons, partridges, and quails.  But Aristotle’s observations on animal homosexuality, if they focused on males and copulation, would have been limited by his times. 

Aristotle lived during the Classical period in ancient Greece, when sex between men and boys was ho hum, no biggie.  But non-human animal homosexuality is much bigger than boys and it’s about more than just sex.  Modern biologists like Bruce Bagemihl describe animal homosexuality as a broad spectrum of same-sex behavior between female and male pairs consisting of courtship, affection, sex acts, pair-bonding, and parental activities.  In fact, Bagemihl has documented homosexual, bisexual, and non-reproductive sexual behavior in more than 450 species of animals worldwide.  

Skip and Ping, a Same-Sex Penguin Pair Incubating an Egg at Zoo Berlin

(Side note:  Bagemihl is the Canadian biologist and linguist who wrote Biological Exuberance:  Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (1999), which was cited by the American Psychiatric Association in its amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas.  This is the case that struck down sodomy laws throughout the U.S.)

https://nyti.ms/2MhMW9O

(If the link isn't active, please copy and paste the video into your browser.)

And, living in ancient Greece, it's quite certain that Aristotle never met a penguin.  Had he met Skip and Ping (above) or Sphen and Magic (below), his views on animal homosexuality might have been more nuanced, which brings us to our cute animal story for the day.  This one is about two Gentoo penguin residents at the Sydney, Australia aquarium, and it was reported in the New York Times last January.  It’s so delightfully written that I’m going to quote from it at length, but here’s the link:  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/style/gay-penguins-australia.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

When Sphen and Magic became a couple, Australia had just gone through a bitter battle about whether gay marriage should be legal. The human gay marriage debate had brought out thorny personal and religious tensions. These two diligent Gentoos, unaware of the political heat around their courtship, became a larger symbol for the country. If a penguin colony could figure this out, a human nation certainly could.

Sphen and Magic

Penguin keepers cannot say exactly why one penguin chooses another, especially two penguins as different as Magic and Sphen. Magic, a 3-year-old Gentoo born at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium, is excitable and playful. He chases after toys and anything that shines. He greets visitors. Sphen, who is 6 and from SeaWorld, is taller and has a bigger beak. He’s quieter, more serious and less interested in toys and humans. But it was clear early on what Sphen and Magic were doing when they met one summer day at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium.

First, as is the Gentoo way, they began to bow to each other.  They brought each other carefully selected pebbles for the nest they hoped to build together. If either had not been interested he would have rejected the pebble, pushing it away with a beak. But each admired the pebbles he was brought. Ms. Lawrie [the aquarium’s senior penguin keeper] described it as “consent.”

Then they started to sing. Standing close together, they sang to each other until they had learned each other’s voices.

“You would see Magic standing in his spot looking for Sphen, and he would call and Sphen would come running over and give Magic a little bow and sing as well,” Ms. Hannan [head of penguin supervision] said. “They’ve chosen each other. That’s it. They’re bonded now. They weren’t interested in other birds in the colony.”

And so it was no surprise that the two began preparing for an egg.

“We knew they would start picking up stones,” Ms. Hannan said. “And we knew they would build the best nest.” When the egg came, Sphen and Magic each took turns sitting on it for 28 days.

The penguin keepers had a discussion. “We made the decision within the penguin team, and no one was against it,” Ms. Lawrie said. “Any pairs that want to pair up, it’s great.”

They alerted aquarium leadership that there were going to be two male penguin parents. The aquarium executives embraced it.

 “People said we shouldn’t call them gay because maybe they’re just friends.”

The penguin keepers said they would bring no politics onto the ice.

“We’re not going to discourage any companionship for our penguins,” Ms. Lawrie said. “Love is love.”

Sphengic

Their chick — for now called Sphengic — was born on a Friday and weighed 91 grams. It was the only chick to have hatched of all the eggs in the colony.

For the first few months of a chick’s life, it stays close to its parents. Sphen and Magic feed and sing to the chick. They tuck it into bed at night. The chick needs to have its head faced toward the parents when it sleeps under them, so parents use their beaks to keep it in proper position.

“Penguins are born with the ability to raise chicks from start to finish whether they’re male or female, and that’s quite an interesting thought to keep in mind,” Ms. Hannan said. “We’re the same.”

Sphen, Magic, and Sphengic

"Love is love." "We're all the same."  But is that really true?  Maybe in the penguin world it is, but in the human world, it is and it isn't.  In Germany for example, same-sex parents must navigate a legal obstacle course to fulfill their dreams, because surrogacy is banned.  The result is that gay male couples tend to rely on adoption when they want to start a family.  Lesbians face an equally uphill battle, as they must petition a court to be recognized as the second parent when their partners give birth.

And, when it comes to parenting itself, unfortunately, we're not all the same.  We all know parents who, for a variety of reasons--age, immaturity, financial or personal difficulties, unwanted pregnancy, drug or alcohol dependencies--just aren't very good at it.  What does it take to be a good parent?  Well, for one thing, it has nothing to do with biological sex, gender identification, or sexual orientation.  Based on the drive to parent seen in Skip and Ping and in Sphen and Magic, it seems to have more to do with the need and the ability to love and care for another being.  

Which is why I’ve never understood the objections to same-sex parenting.  If someone—lesbian, gay, bi, trans, q, +—wants to raise a child so badly that he/she/they is willing to endure the public scrutiny, invasion of privacy, and sometimes even humiliation that is the prerequisite to obtaining society's permission to love and nurture a child, why on earth would anyone want to discourage that!?  I have no answer.  But I might have to ask a penguin.  They seem to have a better beak on things.

Keep it real!

Marilyn