Is one of my mother’s cats gay? An absence of testicles does not stop Jamie mounting another (neutered) male Smokey who, being smaller, is unable to offer much resistance. According to Bagemihl, homosexuality has long been known in both cats and dogs but he avoids using the term “gay” with its anthropomorphic implications. After all, Jamie cannot tell us if he really fancies Smokey, or even understands what he is doing.
After reading this comprehensive bestiary one could easily imagine that animals really can be gay. Male/male and female/female interactions of every conceivable kind are meticulously documented. Mutual masturbation, body rubbing, mounting from behind or front to front, anal sex, oral sex – you name it and if animals are physically capable of it, the chances are there’s a species somewhere that does it. The photo of two young male bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) happily engaged in fellatio is particularly endearing.
It is not just rampant, casual sex that is documented (although there’s plenty of it). Many birds and mammals bond for life, forming stable, caring homosexual relationships. In some cases (e.g. lions, elephants and greylag geese) these pairings actually last longer than heterosexual ones!
Gay parenting is common. Whether one or both of the partners have a brief heterosexual encounter whilst maintaining a long term homosexual pairing, or are widowed females pairing up and helping to raise each other’s offspring, such behaviour is commonplace in many bird species and has also been observed in grizzly bears, red foxes and warthogs. Same-sex pairs, male or female, occasionally adopt orphans, or even steal offspring of heterosexual pairs to raise as their own. Bagemihl notes that such same-sex couples generally make “competent and occasionally even superior parents”.
For sheer comprehensiveness this book is unbeatable. Even though the author limits himself to mammals and birds, he still covers hundreds of species. In fact homosexuality in various forms spans the entire animal kingdom – vertebrates and invertebrates alike – with 15 - 30 % of the few thousand species that have so far been studied (out of a million or more) exhibiting it. This is certainly an underestimate due to the practical difficulties of observing shy, and often nocturnal, creatures in the wild.
One thing is clear, however: whilst homosexuality is commonplace in nature, homophobia is not. Even in species where heterosexual matings are often aggressively interrupted (for example by rivals or by dominant individuals) homosexual ones are usually ignored. Next time some bigot starts ranting about homosexuality being “against nature” etc. somebody should point out that it is they who are behaving unnaturally!
The book is more than just a list of examples of “gay” animals. There are fascinating chapters on related topics. For example the attitude of zoologists to animal homosexuality. Some document it properly but many attempt to explain it away as something else, such as “social bonding” behaviour, or dismiss it as “anomalous” or simply ignore it. Bagemihl does a good demolition job on such prejudices.
Transgender is also covered as are heterosexual mating habits and the often brutal nature of animal family life. Rape, child-abuse and infanticide are all perfectly natural and disturbingly common. Bagemihl also examines critically theories about the origins of homosexuality, attacking the gay “helpers” theory and challenging theories that bisexuality is best.
It is where he attempts his own explanation that he comes unstuck. Chaos theory is invoked, but not developed. It is conceivable that sexuality is the result of a complex interaction of genes and environment so that the slightest variation in starting conditions dramatically alters the outcome. This could account for such phenomena as identical twins where one is gay and the other not but, regrettably, this is not explored by Bagemihl. Nor does he explore adequately the possibility of polygenetic inheritance. Perhaps homosexuality is caused by a combination of many genes. In other combinations they may impart a reproductive advantage to their owners without resulting in homosexuality.
Instead, drawing upon the traditions of aboriginal cultures, Bagemihl constructs a vague, almost metaphysical, notion of “biological exuberance” which, I have to say, does not explain anything. It was disappointing, after so much well-documented and sensible discussion, to encounter the few pages in which we are told that nature is trying to use up excess energy by generating all sorts of functionless structures and behaviours, of which homosexuality is just one example. Evolutionary biologists, who see everything in terms of a cost-benefit analysis, will not like that, nor will they like the mystical elements from traditional beliefs or the whiff of new-ageism which can be detected here. Unfortunately, so long as scientists cannot even explain what causes heterosexuality, let alone homosexuality, the door is open to all manner of speculation.
The author’s theorising aside, the book is a first-class compilation on a neglected subject and for this Bagemihl must be heartily congratulated. It is also a superb source of ammunition to use against the “homosexuality is against nature” brigade. However, whilst it may be excellent for scoring debating points and discrediting ignorant homophobes, it is unlikely to change their attitudes. Bagemihl relates the case of Christian bigot Anita Bryant who claimed that “even barnyard animals don’t do what homosexuals do”. When told that, in fact, they often do, she retorted, “That still doesn’t make it right.” In a sense she was right. Whether animals do it or not has nothing to do with the morality of an action. The “homosexuality is unnatural” argument is not just false, it is irrelevant.