biolog

I guess the whole depressing California-Prop-8 thing has everyone talking about gay sex and how natural it is. There was a great post up at Pleiotropy about how common homosexuality is in other species, much better informed than my earlier post on the subject. He’s also got a follow up post quoting from a short Hufington Post piece. (Did you follow all that?) The Huffington Post piece disputes the common religious argument that God will punish a society that allows gay marriage. The article argues that the contrary is true, more secular societies have higher incomes and are better places to raise a family. It doesn’t look like much of a scientific study, but the broad contours seem like they might be true. More tolerant societies may be more successful in general, however I’m sure you could find some counter-examples. Saudi Arabia vs. India, South Africa vs. Botswana, things like that (though being a dumb American I’m not sure how good my examples are)

Also relevant to my earlier discussion of the prevalence of homosexuality in animals is Bjørn Østman of Pleiotropy’s quote of the following very cute story of the religious right’s favorite movie stars.

Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at New York’s Central Park Zoo have been inseparable for six years now. They display classic pair-bonding behavior—entwining of necks, mutual preening, flipper flapping, and the rest. They also have sex, while ignoring potential female mates.

This reminds me of the many species previously thought to form high-fidelity pair bonds for life. I picture the paternity-testing-scientists looking confusedly at the labels on their tubes, wondering if they had accidentally mislabeled them or something. I wonder if Roy and Silo ever cheat on each other, and whether it’s with male or female penguins. We need to fund some really patient ethologists with stamina and video cameras to see what’s really going on. Inquiring minds want to know.