It's natural to be gay...

...just as it is natural to be straight.

That is the message of Against Nature, a new exhibition that has just opened at the Natural History Museum in Oslo. The exhibition displays examples of homosexual behaviour among animals, including courtship, copulation and the raising of young by same-sex pairs.

According to biologists, such behaviour is frequent and has been observed in literally hundreds of species. Furthermore, say the organizers of Against Nature, the fact of animal homosexuality has been known to mankind for hundreds of years, though it has been suppressed due to convention and religious sanction.

As you might imagine, the exhibition has has drawn large crowds and also engendered a certain amount of controversy -- though this being sensible, tolerant Norway, there was none of the fury and hysteria that might accompany the opening of an event like this in certain parts of the world.

Good for the organizers, say I. This just about hammers the coffin shut. Maybe now the overripe concept of homosexuality as an 'unnatural act' can be given the burial for which it is long overdue.

let's all be bisexual!

I remember when they wrote about octopusses which were observed displaying 'gay' behaviour at the bottom of the sea. as far as I recall, they were wondering why...I guess they know now!

nice post, Astyanax.