Is LGBTQ+ behavior in nature against nature? Let's look at the facts!

"This LGBTQ thing is against nature!" someone occasionally rants in an online discussion. But is that really true?

What humans invented and what nature knew long before us is the subject of scientific research. And thanks to research, we know that same-sex sexual behavior is not exclusive to Homo sapiens, but is also common among more than 1,500 other creatures!

And that's not all: the animal kingdom also knows more than two sexes and their changes. We don't have time for all animals, but we can talk about the cutest ones:

Penguins

British explorer George Murray Levick, who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, already knew that penguins mate not only in male-female pairs, but also male-male and female-female. He was so horrified by the behavior of the cute birds that he preferred to write down his observations about their sexuality in Greek in his diary, so that the public would not find out about them. However, he was not successful, and about a hundred years later, his memoirs were published by the scientific journal Polar Record, which focuses on research in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Roy and Silo, two males from the New York Zoo, probably became the most famous queer penguins. Zoo staff noticed that they were courting each other, and one of them even tried to hatch a stone. So, the two birds were given a real egg with a penguin whose biological parents could not take care of it. A female chick hatched, named Tango, after whom the children's publication And Tango Makes Three is named (it's also a reference to the English saying "it takes two to tango").

Snails

A snail is a hermaphroditic creature, meaning it has both male and female reproductive organs. What's more, they can even reproduce with themselves!

This might sometimes be a better option than finding a mating partner. Snail sex is far from romantic: after courtship, the two creatures cling to each other and start shooting knife-shaped darts at each other. Their goal is to prevent the other snail from releasing sperm into the first. Whoever loses carries the eggs.

Bonobo Chimpanzees

Bonobos have a reputation as peaceful primates who resolve any disputes with sex. And they don't care what their opponent has between their legs.

On the other hand, they do make some distinctions between sexes: these chimpanzees live in a matriarchal society, meaning females rule. The status of individual males then depends on the status of their mother.

Which are also situations in which some violence does occur among bonobos: when females attack lower-ranking males.

Oysters

These marine creatures likely don't experience gender dysphoria, not only because they don't know gender, but also because they can change their sex on their own.

However, oysters don't change sex every day. In fact, they change it on average twice a season.

Lions

And now for the grand finale, or rather, the grand femi-nale.

When we think of lions, we imagine males with majestic manes, surrounded by maneless females who go hunting.

Recently, however, media have reported examples of lionesses that are becoming indistinguishable from males. When they mate with males, it looks as if two males are having sex. But the opposite is true.

 

To that, there's only one thing to say: Queens, slaaay!