'Homosexual Zebra Finches Form Long-term Bond'
"Same-sex pairs of monogamous birds are just as attached and faithful to each other as those paired with a member of the opposite sex.
"The insight comes from a study of zebra finches - highly vocal, colourful birds that sing to their mates, a performance thought to strengthen the pair's bond.
"Scientists found that same-sex pairs of finches sang to and preened each other just like heterosexual pairs.
"The study is reported in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology..."
Snore!
Stories about "gay" animals or birds seem to be a shoo-in for coverage in the straight media.
Here's another one from the BBC about some King Penguins being queens.
But is any of this really news - or newsworthy?
They're archetypal "And finally..." stories and silly season bollocks - which are presumably meant to elicit childish titters.
Grow up.
Posts
Are they really meant to elicit titters?
ReplyDeleteI always took them to be positive stories. Showing instances of homosexuality in the natural world is a good thing, if only for the sort of people who still try to use the argument that being gay is "un-natural".
Radio 4 had it as the last "And finally..." item on their news bulletins - always reserved for "Ho ho ho what a funny old world" stories...
ReplyDeleteI can't really see how stories about "homosexual" finches would make a homophobe question his contempt for gay humans.
^ I don't mean for the benefit of homophobes, I mean for gay kids who are undoubtedly going to be challenged at some point in their lives with the argument that being gay is un-natural.
ReplyDeleteThe more examples there are in mainstream media to counter this the better, in my view.
Never mind. :)
I really can't see how knowing some zebra finches may be "gay" would help a gay kid...
ReplyDeleteBonobo monkeys rape their own offspring - does that make it okay for humans?
You are right in logic, Fagburn, since from the fact that non-human animals do or don't do this or that, nothing follows about what is good or right or permissible for human beings. People who think that such conclusions *do* follow are usually in the grips of some quaint world-view according to which God or Nature intends animal behaviour as some sort of message-board to us humans. (And then your Bonobo example is a killer.)
ReplyDeleteBut, logic aside, I think there is some propaganda value in gay finches and suchlike. Given that there are lots of people who (illogically) see nature as a message-board to us humans, then the fact that cats and dogs and zebra finches do it may have some slight effect in softening hostility to gays. Against the rhetoric of "unnatural practices", the fact that gay sex happens in the "natural" world may have some force.
Paul Brownsey
You're equating two different propositions.
ReplyDeleteDoes the existence of homosexual activity/relationships across the NATURAL WORLD counter the argument that gay activity in humans is "un-natural"?
Clearly (I've emphasised the important part for anyone having trouble here).
Does the fact that bonobo monkeys rape their own offspring make it "okay" for humans to rape their own offspring (or maybe you meant "okay" for humans to rape the offspring of bonobo monkeys, you're not particularly clear here)?
No, of course not. For reasons so obvious it's a waste of energy stating them.
:)
Actually having looked at some gay blogs and websites it appears lots of many gay men are THRILLED at the zebra finch news....
ReplyDeleteEveryone from the Mail to the Mirror has picked up on this crapola...
ReplyDelete