Zoo drops efforts to turn penguins straight
    & nbsp; By Larry Buhl, PlanetOut Network
    & nbsp; Friday, February 18, 2005 / 07:21 PM

SUMMARY: After six male penguins resisted all efforts to relate to female penguins, keepers at the Bremerhaven Zoo in Bremen, Germany, decided to let them stay gay.

Outrage from gay and lesbian groups and -- apparently -- the strength of animal amore, have thwarted a German zoo's plans to break up three gay penguin couples. After six male penguins resisted all efforts to mate with, or even relate to, female penguins, keepers at the Bremerhaven Zoo in Bremen, Germany, decided to let them stay gay.

Keepers at the Bremerhaven Zoo in Bremen, Germany, couldn't understand why six endangered Humboldt penguins, part of the zoo's 10-penguin exhibit, failed to produce offspring. Though the birds coupled up, did courting dances, built nests together and appeared to have sex, no babies were created -- although one couple adopted a stone that they protected as if it were an egg. When DNA tests showed that all six were male, zookeepers turned to a form of aversion therapy by coaxing them to mate with females.

But after four female penguins were imported from Sweden earlier this year to distract the males, it was clear the gay penguins would not turn "straight." The male couples were separated and introduced to the females one by one, but they pined for their mates until they were reunited. Kueck said the zoo did not try to break up the same-sex pairs by force. Rather, administrators wanted to see if the birds were really homosexual or just lacking in opportunities for female companionship. "The relationships of the male couples were apparently too strong," said Kueck.

Penguins don't have a lock on same-sex love, however. Scientists have found homosexual behavior throughout the animal world, and more so with animals in the wild than with those in captivity. Bonobos, apes closely related to humans, are nearly all bisexual -- and, studies have shown, wildly energetic sexually. Young male dolphin calves frequently form same-sex relationships.

Same-sex animal couplings have sparked debate over the origin of homosexual behavior. Gay rights groups have used gay animal examples to bolster the belief that homosexuality is natural, while conservative religious groups continue to call such couplings "animalistic."

Though she resists using animal behavior to draw conclusions about humans, Marlene Zuk, author of "Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can't Learn About Sex From Animals"  says that same-sex animal behavior can be used to expand our understanding of sexuality in general.

With bonobos in particular, Zuk explained, "You see expressions outside the period when females are fertile. Suddenly, you are beginning to see that sex is not necessarily about reproduction. Sexuality is a lot broader term than people want to think."

As for the six Bremerhaven penguins, the experiment doesn't seem to have caused a rift in their same-sex relationships. The four Swedish temptresses, meanwhile, are not exactly left out in the cold. The zoo has flown in two new male penguins, "so the ladies don't miss out altogether," Kueck said.

From PlanetOut last week:

"[T]he number of people killed in the tsunami is the same as
the number of people in the world who die of AIDS every 18
days."

-- NBC News Chief Health and Science Correspondent Robert
Bazell in a Jan. 5 e-mail to veteran gay activist Larry
Kramer.

I was listening to this earlier and thought that it pretty much summed up my attitude today:

Life is an aimless drive that you take alone.

Might as well enjoy the ride--take the long way home.

---the Bloodhound Gang

Poll:  Majority support measure
Associated press

MONTGOMERY--A survey of voting-age Alabamians found a majority strongly support a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, which is an issue getting lots of attention in the current session of the Alabama Legislature.
   In the survey, conducted by a polling service at Auburn University, 54 percent said they strongly supported a constitutional amendment, 4 percent mildly supported it, 11 percent were indifferent, 5 percent mildly opposed to it, and 23 percent strongly opposed to it.
   Poll director Jim Seroka said Tuesday the surprising part of the survey was that only 3 percent had no opinion, which is unusually small.
   The issue has captured people's attention, he said, because "you're dealing with the family."

Ummmm......I think someone should state the obvious to these people, which is that all gay residents of the state are also members of a family.  We have parents and siblings and life partners.  Many of us even have children.  How can you promote "family unity" when you promote intolerance and discrimination toward members of a family?  When you deny legal rights and protections to certain families?  That's the whole point of wanting marriage equality.  It's not a plot to undermine the fabric of society or to destroy heterosexual marriage.  We just want legal protection for our families, too.   

I have yet to hear a real explanation for how gay marriage is a threat to the sanctity of heterosexual marriage. In what way is it a threat?

This news flash is no surprise, is it?

House committee approves ban on gay marriages

By BOB JOHNSON
The Associated Press
2/2/2005, 5:50 p.m. CT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- A proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages was approved Wednesday by a House committee despite passionate pleas from representatives of gay rights groups, who said it would encourage discrimination and hate toward homosexuals.

"We can't come out of the shadows and show who we are for fear. The institution of marriagee is safe. Please do not perpetuate additional hate against us," said Howard Bayless, a representative of the gay rights advocacy group Equality Alabama.

For the House Constitution and Elections Committee, the chief issue was when the amendment should go before voters.

The committee voted 8-6 along party lines in favor of holding the referendum with the June 2006 primaries, as Democrats prefer. The committee then passed the bill 12-2.

Republicans want the referendum to be held during the general election in November 2006, which they say will attract more voters than the June primaries. GOP lawmakers promised to push to change the date when the proposed amendment comes up on the House floor.

Democrats took note that President Bush won in nine of the 11 states where gay marriage bans were on the ballot last November — passing in every state — and they're concerned that putting the issue on the 2006 general election ballot in Alabama could bring out conservative voters and help Republican candidates.

The sponsor of the measure, Rep. Yusuf Salaam, D-Selma, said his purpose was not to attack gay Alabamians.

"I'm not offering this to slash or bash anyone," said Salaam, the only Muslim in the Legislature. "This protects the sanctity of marriage."

On the first committee day of the 2005 regular session, more than 50 people crowded into a small Statehouse meeting room to hear debate on the gay marriage amendment.

Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, who has also sponsored a same-sex marriage ban, said the issue is one of the most important facing the Legislature.

"The institution of marriage is under attack. Marriage is the bedrock of the very existence of our society," Allen said.

But Bayless told committee members that Alabama already has a law making same-sex marriages illegal.

"This is just perpetuating hate against us," Bayless said.

Patricia Todd, who said she is a lesbian, begged committee members to show "a sense of decency."

"Passage of this bill will create a season of hate against all gay people in Alabama," Todd said.