Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Still other factors besides hostility from other animals may be involved in the occasional segregation of individuals that participate in homosexual activity. Among Ring-billed Gulls, for instance, female pairs are sometimes relegated to poorer-quality nesting sites or smaller territories, or they end up congregated together in the spaces between territories belonging to heterosexual pairs. Although this could be due to active hostility from neighboring birds, it is just as likely due to the fact that female pairs are generally not as aggressive as male-female pairs and consequently are unable to defend their nest sites from the encroachments that all pairs must endure in crowded colonies. In addition, heterosexual pairs of Ring-billed Gulls that are younger or less experienced also tend to end up in suboptimal locations, and in some colonies female pairs are fully integrated or randomly distributed rather than being peripheralized or clustered. This indicates that hostility toward female pairs is not ubiquitous and, if present at all, is not directed exclusively toward female pairs. In some species segregation is actively initiated by the individuals who are involved in homosexual activity. Female Japanese Macaques in homosexual consortships, for instance, isolate themselves physically and socially from other troop members, including their relatives, to spend time together. Likewise, Black Swan male pairs may end up physically separated from other individuals, but this is because their territories are the most expansive and also because they are aggressive toward other birds that approach them. Greylag gander pairs tend to occupy a peripheral position in their flocks, but it is unlikely that they have been “forced” to the edges, since male pairs are typically more domineering than any other birds in the flock. Some scientists have suggested that such homosexual pairs may actually be performing the role of “sentinels” or guards for the group as a whole, hence their position at the flock’s “border.” There is also evidence that homosexual Mallard Ducks prefer each other’s company and tend to congregate together: when large numbers of male pairs were brought together in captivity, for instance, they tended to form their own flocks and socialize with each other rather than with heterosexual birds. The reason such flocks are not often seen in the wild, then, may simply be a matter of numbers. Because same-sex pairs tend to make up a minority of the population in this species, it is unlikely that enough homosexual individuals would ever be present together in a wild flock to form their own large groups.³⁸

Nevertheless, the virtual absence of segregated subgroups of homosexual or bisexual individuals in the animal world is probably related at least in part to the general lack of overt hostility toward homosexuality among animals. Of course, multiple factors are undoubtedly involved, as is true for the formation of segregated groups of homosexuals among people. The emergence of “gay ghettos” or subcultures in some human societies is a complex process related to many things besides gaining refuge from persecution, such as the need to find and associate with one’s own kind, the formation of a homosexual “identity,” the development of economic independence, and so on. Nor are such groups merely a defensive response to a hostile society: as with many other minorities, such “ghettos” may begin as a necessary survival tactic but then develop into vital and enriching subcultures of their own. For animal societies we have already seen that many other factors—widespread bisexuality, for instance, or small numbers of animals participating in same-sex activities—can mitigate against the formation of separate groups. Conversely, segregated social units in which homosexual activity takes place often form for reasons that are (initially) unrelated to the sexuality of the animals involved. However, it is striking that both active hostility toward individuals involved in homosexuality and segregation of such individuals are rare occurrences in the animal kingdom. While neither of these social responses to homosexuality is uniquely human (as has been claimed), they are generally uncharacteristic of animal societies. Homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender are usually as much a part of animal social life as heterosexuality, regardless of their prevalence or frequency of occurrence. In this respect, the vast majority of other creatures have an approach to sexual and gender variance that is decidedly humane, rather than human—and they might even offer us models of how our societies could integrate differently oriented or ambiguously gendered individuals into the fabric of social life.

Homosexual Mallard drakes tend to socialize primarily with each other in their own flocks or “clubs”