Seed Magazine: The Gay Animal Kingdom
— via linna
My favorite line from article author Jonah Lehrer: “At last count, over 450 different vertebrate species could be beheaded in Saudi Arabia.” Ha!
The one resistance I’ve encountered in the LGBT community to having queerness be proven as having a genetic or otherwise biological basis comes from a fear that doing so will open potential doors to Nazi-esque pogroms based on ideas of genetic superiority. I’ve always said not to worry, because people don’t need science, misapplied or otherwise, to be dicks.
Roughgarden’s research throws in the additional idea that the heterosexuality-homosexuality spectrum isn’t really measurable in terms of what’s dominant or superior, as the non-reproductive practice of homosexuality hasn’t been bred out of tons of non-human species, but is something more functional and necessary for complex social structures. That’s freakin’ fascinating.
Source: linna
