Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Ironically, then, some of the most aggressive interactions surrounding variant sexualities/genders in animals involve heterosexual individuals being attacked, harassed, or invaded by homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered individuals. Nevertheless, the converse situation is not unknown: there are a number of examples of homosexual animals being targeted by heterosexual ones. All such cases involve a male interfering with homosexual activity between two females, often in an attempt to gain sexual access to one of the females. Male Brown Capuchins, Rufous Rat Kangaroos, and Sage Grouse occasionally try to break up mating activity between females, while male Gorillas have been known to attack two females that are having sex together. A male Bonobo repeatedly tried to interfere in the sexual activity between females by screaming, jumping, and sometimes even hitting them; rather than preventing their sexual interactions, however, this simply caused the females to have sex with each other furtively until he gave up harassing them, after which they could do so openly. Male Canada Geese and Wapiti sometimes try to separate female pairs and mate with one member by driving the other away or isolating her from her companion (the females usually do manage to get back together), while female Japanese and Rhesus Macaques in homosexual consortships are occasionally threatened and charged by males. Jackdaw females who are bonded to each other as part of a bisexual trio may be hindered in their joint parenting efforts by their male partner, who sometimes prevents one of the females from having access to their nest. In some cases, this may lead to a loss of eggs or young.³⁵ Notably, these reaction patterns are not typical for most of these species, since on other occasions animals usually have no adverse response to same-sex activity (e.g., in Bonobos, Gorillas, Rufous Rat Kangaroos, and Sage Grouse). And rarely do these attempts at interference (even when violent) force individuals to permanently cease homosexual activities: rather, they simply alter their patterns of relating or resume their activities once the interference has stopped.

In contrast, there is a consistent pattern among White-tailed Deer of highly aggressive attacks against the transgendered “velvet-horns” (individuals who combine both male and female characteristics). These animals are continually hounded by nontransgendered Deer of all ages and sexes, who drive them away and prevent them from approaching feeding grounds. Sometimes a “gang” of up to half a dozen bucks will attack a velvet-horn, charging, chasing, and severely wounding it with their antlers. Possibly as a result of this social ostracism, velvet-horns tend to associate only with other velvet-horns, forming their own groups and generally avoiding other Deer.³⁶ Other than this example, though, it is rare to find animals with different sexualities or genders living separately because of persecution from members of their own species.

In many cases, animals that are involved in homosexual interactions do live in segregated groups, but their spatial and social separation from other individuals is based on factors other than their sexuality (since such groups typically also contain individuals who do not engage in homosexuality). Among such factors are age, sex, breeding status, social rank, activity patterns, and various combinations of these. For example, homosexual activity is characteristic of groups of younger, nonbreeding, and/or lower-ranking Northern Elephant Seals; of nonbreeding males in the sex-segregated “bachelor herds” characteristic of many hoofed and marine mammals; of groups of Cliff Swallows engaged in mud-gathering activities away from the nesting colonies; of older, solitary African Elephant males; of nonbreeding Pied Kingfishers who are not involved in helping heterosexual pairs; and of groups of male Gray Seals who gather together during the molting season. Physical disabilities can also isolate individuals into their own groups: in Greenshanks, for instance, flocks of one-legged birds have been observed socializing and migrating separately from other individuals. This is probably because they are unable to keep up with other birds rather than because of social ostracism, since two-legged birds are also sometimes found in such flocks.³⁷ In contrast, although some Greenshanks participate in homosexual activity, no corresponding “flocks” of clearly homosexual or bisexual birds are known in this species.