Nature Vs. Choice - Part I
And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures each according to his kind… And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good… Genesis 1:24-31
Nature VS Choice
Is the argument that Homosexuality is a “crime against nature” still a valid one?
Part I
Recently a young male elephant named Ninio was purchased for the zoo in Poznan- a city in western Poland. After keen observation by the zoo attendants it was surmised that the elephant displayed “homosexual tendencies”. Ninios’ behavior was passive and friendly towards male elephants and aggressive or indifferent towards females. The verdict according to the head of the Poznan zoo was that Ninio “will probably not procreate”. When the information was leaked to the press, Michal Grzes, a conservative Polish councilor and member of the right-wing opposition Law and Justice Party was quoted as saying, “We didn't pay 37 million zlotys (about $1,470,000. US dollars) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there! We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?"
I can almost hear the Christian fundamentalists wringing their hands and rending their garments whilst decrying “It’s Horton and Henrietta not Horton and Dumbo”, (or something to that effect) as they look plaintively towards heaven. Did Dante forget to mention that part of hell where all gay animals are burning (or barbequing) for all eternity? What a racket that would be! Little did the Christian right know what a noisy place hell will be for sinners great and small…
Joking aside, and to be fair, Ninio is still quite young (10 years old) and won’t actually be considered a sexually mature elephant till he reaches the age of 14. Perhaps little Ninio is just going through his “elephant girls have cooties” phase. And if so there’s a 50/50 chance he could actually end up being ‘straight”. And to the delight of the Poznan zoo, the father of a handsome herd of elephants. And if, you know… Ninio might actually turn out to be gay, there’s always artificial means for him to procreate (infertile straight people have been using this method for years).
Perhaps Councilor Michal Grzes lamentation stemmed more from the potential lack of procreation on the part of Ninio than from anti-gay sentiment- but his statement does bring to the forefront the concept that homosexuality does exist, and is quite common in nature. And Ninio, albeit unwittingly, has given a “gay” face to all non-straight creatures in the Animal Kingdom… Thanks Ninio- we hope you find a boyfriend!
~Martyn Valenzuela
Sources:
- http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/polish-politician-attacks-gay-elephant/seen-this/
- http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKTRE53910G20090410
posted by James at
3:27 PM
2 Comments:
The term 'marriage' should, in my opinion, be dropped from common use, due to it's generic labelisation of outmoded stereotypical behaviours imprinted upon us since birth.
If you love someone deeply, truly and without doubt or reservation enough to make a pact to live together until one of you 'dies', then why should a piece of paper or the group 'goodwill' dictate otherwise?
'Male and Female He created them', the Bible states. Why should it matter if the object of your affection is the same gender as you are?
God delights in Love. So should YOU. That's all that matters.
Here's a twist I didn't know: Is homosexuality even a crime against Christianity?It turns out, the answer is a well-documented, in their own words resounding 'No'!! High profile gay marriages were performed regularly, and without note or special permissions, since the very foundation of BOTH the Roman and the Eastern churches: When Same-Sex Marriage Was A Christian Rite (This is a reprint of an article that originally ran in the Colfax Record last year). see St. Baccus and St. Sergius in http://www.colfaxrecord.com/uploads/inline/1219563031_6df3.jpg
Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department, discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also ceremonies called the "Office of Same-Sex Union" (10th and 11th century), and the "Order for Uniting Two Men" (11th and 12th century).
These church rites had all the symbols of a heterosexual marriage: the whole community gathered in a church, a blessing of the couple before the altar was conducted with their right hands joined, holy vows were exchanged, a priest officiatied in the taking of the Eucharist and a wedding feast for the guests was celebrated afterwards. These elements all appear in contemporary illustrations of the holy union of the Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil the First (867-886 CE) and his companion John.
Such same gender Christian sanctified unions also took place in Ireland in the late 12thand/ early 13th century, as the chronicler Gerald of Wales (‘Geraldus Cambrensis’) recorded.I'd call that a big Case Closed.
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