Here they go again

It's fairly predictable that when gay issues are in the news, the usual peripheral background stories appear. You know, the ones about a "gay gene", or the fluff pieces showing some gay couple raising a an apparently well-adjusted child, etc.

The ruling last week by the California Supreme Court on the state's gay-marriage ban has brought the "it's OK, monkeys and penguins do it" people out of the woodwork:

As gay couples celebrate their newfound right to marry in California and opposition groups rally to fight the ruling, many struggle with this question: Is homosexuality natural?

On this issue, Nature has spoken: Same-sex lovin' is common in hundreds of species, scientists say.

Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at New York's Central Park Zoo, were a couple for about six years, during which they nurtured a fertilized egg together (given to them by a zookeeper) and raised the young chick that hatched.

According to University of Oslo zoologist Petter Böckman, about 1,500 animal species are known to practice same-sex coupling, including bears, gorillas, flamingos, owls, salmon and many others.

Animals also eat their own young and slaughter each other based on instinct, not morality or intelligent thought. Shouldn't we aspire to be a little better than that?

It's interesting that the biologist quoted in the article laments:

The funny thing is that people say homosexuality is unnatural, that non-humans don't engage in homosexual behavior, but that's not true. Then they'll say it's base and animalistic."

Can't imagine where they got that idea...