Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Homosexuality in animals has frequently been regarded as a pathological condition. Such terms as abnormal and aberrant are routinely applied to this phenomenon (as mentioned in chapter 3), often with no further justification or explication—homosexuality is considered sufficient in itself to warrant the label of disease, disorder, dysfunction, or deviance. A number of researchers, however, are more specific in their pathologizing of homosexuality and transgender, and in this section we’ll examine two of the principal “explanations” of this sort that have been put forward: the claims that homosexuality is caused by the artificial conditions of captivity, and that homosexuality/transgender is the manifestation of a physiological abnormality.

Something Amiss at the Zoos

For a long time, scientists discounted examples of animal homosexuality because some of the earliest descriptions were based on captive animals. In many cases, biologists continue to classify this behavior as “abnormal” and attribute it to the “unnatural” circumstances of confinement or contact with humans. One scientist, for example, writes of homosexual pairs in Swans (as well as other “sexual aberrations” such as heterosexual trios and interspecies matings): “Captive swans, like many other animals, sometimes show gross abnormalities of behavior. These are due almost entirely to the artificial conditions under which the birds are kept.”⁹¹ As recently as 1991, homosexuality in Wattled Starlings was ascribed to their captivity. Other species for which similar “explanations” have been proposed (including appeals to factors such as crowding and/or stress in captivity) include Common Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Stumptail Macaques, Musk-oxen, Koalas, Long-eared Hedgehogs, Vampire Bats, and Black-crowned Night Herons.⁹² Sometimes the only context where same-sex activity is discussed is to exemplify the types of “pathologies” that arise in captivity. Homosexuality in Dolphins, for instance, was offered as an illustration of the “sexual aberrancy” that can result from confinement in aquariums, while a case of female coparenting in Barn Owls was included in a report on “Abnormal and Maladaptive Behavior in Captive Raptors”—part of a monograph on (of all things) diseases in birds of prey. Homosexual activity in Rhesus Macaques was even presented (along with a number of other “abnormal” behaviors) as an illustration of the deleterious effects of malnutrition.⁹³ In a perfect example of the sort of circular reasoning that is employed in many scientific discussions, homosexuality in captive animals is often cited as the “proof” of the artificiality of their captive conditions. One zoologist proclaims, “Homosexual behavior [in Cheetahs] … is reported in zoos as quite frequent, which to me indicates that something is amiss at the zoos,” while another states, “The very occurrence of female-female pairs [in Zebra Finches] suggests behavioral pathology.”⁹⁴ This is chillingly reminiscent of the not-so-distant “medicalized” views of human homosexuality, where the mere existence of same-sex attraction or activity was sufficient to “diagnose” pathology or mental illness.