First of all, fuck this guy.
Second, let’s talk about why this is bullshit.
There’s a strange belief among conservatives that being gay isn’t “natural”, and that it only exists among humans. They use this belief to justify hating gay people. It’s sort of a logical fallacy in the first place – wearing glasses isn’t “natural”, but you don’t go around picking optometrists, do you? Whether it is or isn’t natural is really pretty unimportant. But let’s get into some detail on why it’s absurd to claim being gay isn’t natural.
Gay people have existed for all of human history.
Being gay isn’t some kind of new trend. LGB people have been around since ancient times, in every civilization. The Chinese had positive stories of homosexuality going back to at least the Spring and Autumn Era (770-476 BCE). The Indian Kamasutra, written around the 2nd century CE, contains passages about homosexual acts. A story in ancient Egypt, circa 16th century BC, depicted a king in a clandestine relationship with a general. Native Americans have a third (and sometimes fourth, depending on the tribe) gender referred to as “two-spirit” people, who might engage in same-sex relationships.
Although homosexual relationships were not always accepted by society, they have still always existed throughout recorded history.
Homosexual behavior among animals is common.
Scientists have known for a long time that animals will engage in same-sex behaviors. It’s been observed in 1,500 different species of animals, from worms to insects to primates. Nearly all bonobos are bisexual, and upwards of 75% of sex acts are non-reproductive. Male lions will bond with each other and often cement these bonds with sex acts. In one notable case, about 10% of domesticated rams show a preference for other rams, to the exclusion of ewes. For most animals, homosexual behaviors don’t seem to exist in mutual exclusion with heterosexual behavior. But then again, most animals don’t pair-bond for upwards of 60 years as humans do, either.
Most negative assertions about homosexual behavior come from comparing it to heterosexual behavior. Because heterosexual acts occasionally result in offspring, the assumption is that all homosexual behavior is “wasted” somehow, impractical, and therefore should have been discarded through natural processes. Some scientists, however, have suggested that same-sex behavior has actually been around from the beginning. After all, how would an animal know how to recognize a compatible mate without the signals we now take for granted? Pheromones, courtship, displays, and other sexual cues wouldn’t have evolved immediately. So the assumption that homosexuals are aberrant, an anomaly, are flawed from the outset.
Gay people are common.
Despite significant challenges in determining the actual number of gay people in a given population, researches consistently find a significant percentage of adults identify as LGB. Upwards of 11% of adults report same-sex attraction. In one Gallup poll, 4.5% of Americans identified as LGB. The real numbers may be a bit higher, as there’s still a stigma on gay relationships.
In Saudi Arabia, where “sodomy” is punishable by death, the gay community still flourishes. They just don’t really consider themselves “gay”. The country seems more obsessed with controlling women than men, and as long as the men don’t act feminine, they’re free to pursue whatever acts they want. After all, if a single male is out with a woman, without owning her in some way (by being a husband or father), there are harsh consequences. A man out with another man is barely even noticed. (Just another example of how homophobia is really about misogyny.)
