GAY animals!! Is homosexuality really against nature?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6066606.stm

I'm not pro or anti-gay, but i was quite surprised at this. I think it has changed my view on homosexuals

Answer 1

Whilst it has been found to be quite widespread in nature the phenomenon has yet to be explained. Are the animals really showing a preference or simply not aware of the normal course of action?

Since it is widely held that the purpose of all animal and plant life is to pass on their genes to their offspring it would appear that the answer must be that it is against nature. Unless that is there is a natural selection process involved that operates to ensure that those animals do not pass on their genes!!!

I had a dog which tended to present to the other dogs head - did it really prefer oral? I don't think so.

The research is not specific enough. For example it only observes that such behaviour is widely seen. It does not say that the animal stays with that preference. The likelihood is that the best explanation is that they are mainly heterosexual with a bisexual leaning.

Only a much better carefully controlled scientific investigation can decide this question.

Answer 2

To those of you who condemn gay marriage, here is my question: what makes two people fit to be married? Why should a man and a woman be married? The answer should be love, dedication and commitment. Too often men and woman are married with the absence of these, which is why 50% of heterosexual marriages end in divorce. Heterosexuals use the privilege of marriage so freely, and yet refuse to allow those of a separate orientation the same. And don't try to give me that sh*t about how homosexuality is "unnatural". Some people are born with an imbalance of testosterone or estrogen. Besides, it isn't as though same sex coupling is a new thing. There are many records in Ancient Greece of homosexuality. A true relationship shouldn't be based entirely on physical intimacy anyway. Love must come above all else. If a homosexual couple is in love, they should be able to receive the legal and religious privileges a marriage provides. Homosexuals aren't merely "gay" or "lesbian". They are people, just as full of goals, desires, and needs as any straight person. It is plain unfair to tell them their love is an abomination. Sorry if this doesn't answer your question, but I feel that some of the ignorance in the answers here need to be addressed.

Answer 3

Whether human, animal or vegetable, all of this what one wants to call as right or wrong does not matter. If a species can only reproduce a certain way, then it has to go that way to reproduce otherwise they stop at the point where they deviated. I guess that is why we call it deviant behavior.



UPDATE
I checked the web page now and find it also interesting. It seems that this is still more the exception rather than the norm simply because the genes of the homosexual tended to stop due to less reproduction.

For those who seem to hate homosexuals so much and use terminology such as "burn in hell", I find your conduct very disturbing because your genes are not going to be stopped so quickly. We should not hate our fellow human beings and for homosexuals especially we should feel compassion for their genes are doomed.

Answer 4

I've seen two male cats on the farm going at it before, which was a bit of a surprise... it's clearly not 'against nature'. At the same time, I've heard that homosexuality has been treated as if it was a medical complaint, for example Alan Turing was forced to eat female hormones in an attempt to 'cure' his homosexuality. I suppose that, even when it's resolved that homosexuality is not unnatural, you still have to convince people there's nothing wrong with it...

Answer 5

The whole purpose of life is procreation.
All mankind, Animals , insects, bacteria all forms of what we know of as living, have a means of reproducing themselves.

Imagine for a moment, this fantasy. All heterosexual people have been eliminated and there are only homosexuals remaining.
The only way for the human race to continue would be for the male homosexuals to fertilise the female homosexuals, and thats not in keeping with "Gay Pride."...hence no more humans.
Because homosexuals cannot reproduce themselves

Answer 6

Often you hear anti-gay people (in particular religious fundamentalists) claim that being gay is wrong because it's "against nature". Clearly, they are wrong as a matter of fact, as your link proves - but it's just as wrong to say that because it's "natural" it is therefore "right". Both sides are in danger, as shown in some of the responses already, of falling into the naturalistic fallacy - ie "it is, therefore it ought to be".

The rights and wrongs of homosexuality have nothing at all to do with whether or not it is natural. Rather, they have to do with how we treat our fellow people, whether we accept people the way they are, whether we believe people should be free to choose their own lifestyle as long as they are not causing harm to others, and so on.

Answer 7

A few weeks ago we went to a bird place and they had penguins there. Two of the male penguins were a "couple" and even had a big stone that one of them looked after like an egg. None of the other penguins had a problem with it. Maybe we can learn from them.

Answer 8

Well, it just does not seem right to me to be using something that is obviously designed to be an exit for waste.

As a student, I also heard of (apocryphal?) stories about men using tubes from vacuum cleaners - I suppose some people just want to turn themselves into human guinea pigs/animals.

If it was really "natural", wouldn't "natural selection" have weeded them out millions of years ago?

Answer 9

If being natural means it should be legalized then pedophiles should be legal too. Some people are naturally alcoholics, does that make it okay? Some people are prone to violence, that must be okay for them, but not anyone else. Just because something comes naturally for someone does not mean that it is good for society or that it should be encouraged. Nor does that give it legal rights.

Answer 10

Well in Roman times (going back to people here not animals) it was normal for them to have a same sex partner and homosexual sex was not looked on as it is today.

In fact this is true of most ancient civilisations.