Baaa, sweetie...

[brightlotusmoon]

Yes, even animals can be gay. So, get over yourselves, homophobics. It's more natural than you think, and certainly beneficial.
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/06/the_gay_animal_kingdom.php

Comments

[todabrilla.livejournal.com]

I agree with several ideas in the article. I do find three aspects annoying though.

One is that I think the research is largely rallying against a strawman and this moves it too far in the other direction. You can certainly argue that homosexuality is common without it having to be adaptive. More to the point, she kind of sidelines heterosexual behavior. The important message I would stress is that the real truth is far more messy and complex then either extreme.

Second, sexual selection is definitely an important force in evolution. Darwin did not argue that it explained all sex differences. But it's foolhardy in the extreme to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Add to the idea, but unless you have evidence that sexual selection does not occur then don't say it's not real.

Thirdly I find it a little odd how much she pushes the discrimination button. Biologists are a diverse lot, but they do tend to be liberal and all evolutionary biologists I have ever met support for GLBT issues. Saying, that people don't accept my views because I'm transgendered is a blanket statement I cannot agree with. Even if most scientists were homophobes that wouldn't mean they'd necessarily adopt a conspiracy against her hypotheses.

All in all, I am grateful to her for keeping the orthodoxy on their toes and pushing new ideas. I just think alternatives are painted a little too black-and-white.

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

*thinks*
*reads article again*

You are absolutely right.

It is a tad extreme, isn't it?

[todabrilla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but like I said there are several very reasonable ideas in there not to mention the value of a different point of view.

I just wish people didn't feel they need to polarize debates to make their point. It's worrisome in politics and just as much so in science.