And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures each according to his kind…
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good…
Genesis 1:24-31
Is the argument that Homosexuality is a “crime against nature” still a valid one?
Recently a young male elephant named Ninio was purchased for the zoo in Poznan- a city in western Poland. After keen observation by the zoo attendants it was surmised that the elephant displayed “homosexual tendencies”. Ninios’ behavior was passive and friendly towards male elephants and aggressive or indifferent towards females. The verdict according to the head of the Poznan zoo was that Ninio “will probably not procreate”. When the information was leaked to the press, Michal Grzes, a conservative Polish councilor and member of the right-wing opposition Law and Justice Party was quoted as saying, “We didn't pay 37 million zlotys (about $1,470,000. US dollars) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there! We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?"
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good…
Genesis 1:24-31
Is the argument that Homosexuality is a “crime against nature” still a valid one?
Recently a young male elephant named Ninio was purchased for the zoo in Poznan- a city in western Poland. After keen observation by the zoo attendants it was surmised that the elephant displayed “homosexual tendencies”. Ninios’ behavior was passive and friendly towards male elephants and aggressive or indifferent towards females. The verdict according to the head of the Poznan zoo was that Ninio “will probably not procreate”. When the information was leaked to the press, Michal Grzes, a conservative Polish councilor and member of the right-wing opposition Law and Justice Party was quoted as saying, “We didn't pay 37 million zlotys (about $1,470,000. US dollars) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there! We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?"
I can almost hear the Christian fundamentalists wringing their hands and rending their garments whilst decrying “It’s Horton and Henrietta not Horton and Dumbo”, (or something to that effect) as they look plaintively towards heaven. Did Dante forget to mention that part of hell where all gay animals are burning (or barbequing) for all eternity? What a racket that would be! Little did the Christian right know what a noisy place hell will be for sinners great and small…
Joking aside, and to be fair, Ninio is still quite young (10 years old) and won’t actually be considered a sexually mature elephant till he reaches the age of 14. Perhaps little Ninio is just going through his “elephant girls have cooties” phase. And if so there’s a 50/50 chance he could actually end up being ‘straight”. And to the delight of the Poznan zoo, the father of a handsome herd of elephants. And if, you know… Ninio might actually turn out to be gay, there’s always artificial means for him to procreate (infertile straight people have been using this method for years).
Perhaps Councilor Michal Grzes lamentation stemmed more from the potential lack of procreation on the part of Ninio than from anti-gay sentiment- but his statement does bring to the forefront the concept that homosexuality does exist, and is quite common in nature. And Ninio, albeit unwittingly, has given a “gay” face to all non-straight creatures in the Animal Kingdom… Thanks Ninio- we hope you find a boyfriend!
~Martyn Valenzuela
Sources:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/polish-politician-attacks-gay-elephant/seen-this/
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKTRE53910G20090410
Perhaps Councilor Michal Grzes lamentation stemmed more from the potential lack of procreation on the part of Ninio than from anti-gay sentiment- but his statement does bring to the forefront the concept that homosexuality does exist, and is quite common in nature. And Ninio, albeit unwittingly, has given a “gay” face to all non-straight creatures in the Animal Kingdom… Thanks Ninio- we hope you find a boyfriend!
~Martyn Valenzuela
Sources:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/polish-politician-attacks-gay-elephant/seen-this/
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKTRE53910G20090410
No comments:
Post a Comment