For these animals, there is documented evidence of
homosexual behavior of one or more of the following kinds:
sex,
courtship,
affection,
pair bonding, or
parenting, as noted in researcher and author
Bruce Bagemihl's 1999 book
Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity.
Bagemihl writes that the presence of
same-sex sexual behavior was not 'officially' observed on a large scale until the 1990s due to possible
observer bias caused by social attitudes towards
LGBT people making the homosexual theme
taboo.
[2][3] Bagemihl devotes three chapters;
Two Hundred Years at Looking at Homosexual Wildlife,
Explaining (Away) Animal Homosexuality and
Not For Breeding Only in his 1999 book
Biological Exuberance to the "documentation of systematic
prejudices" where he notes "the
present ignorance of
biology lies precisely in its single-minded attempt to find reproductive (or other) "explanations" for homosexuality, transgender, and
non-procreative and alternative
heterosexualities.
[4] Petter Bøckman, academic adviser for the
Against Nature? exhibit stated "[M]any researchers have described homosexuality as something altogether different from sex. They must realise that animals can have sex with who they will, when they will and without consideration to a researcher's
ethical principles". Homosexual behavior is found amongst social
birds and
mammals, particularly the sea mammals and the
primates.
[3]
Animal sexual behavior takes many different forms, even within the same
species and the motivations for and implications of their behaviors have yet to be fully understood. Bagemihl's research shows that homosexual behavior, not necessarily
sex, has been documented in about 500 species as of 1999, ranging from
primates to
gut worms.
[5][6] Homosexuality in animals is seen as controversial by
social conservatives because it asserts the naturalness of
homosexuality in humans, while others counter that it has no implications and is nonsensical to equate animal behavior to
morality.
[7][8] Animal preference and motivation is always inferred from behavior. Thus homosexual behavior has been given a number of terms over the years. The correct usage of the term
homosexual is that an animal
exhibits homosexual behavior, however this article conforms to the usage by modern research
[9][10][11][12] applying the term
homosexuality to all sexual behavior (
copulation,
genital stimulation,
mating games and sexual
display behavior) between animals of the same sex.
