Badpuppy Gay Today

Tuesday, 03 June 1997

CANADIAN SCIENTIST REPORTS ON LESBIAN MONKEYS

"Female Japanese macaques [monkeys] engage in sexual behavior not necessarily to reproduce but for sexual gratification--because it feels good," says primatologist and University of Montreal

doctoral student Paul Vasey. And many of them often prefer females over males.

"A lot of people feel that homosexuality occurs because there isn't any opposite-sex alternative," Vasey said. "What I've found with the Japanese macaques is that when two females are together, and if a male comes and solicits one of the females, at that moment she has a choice: She can either go with the male or remain with her female partner. I found that over 90 percent of the time, she remains in the same-sex partnership.

"When you say something like, 'Homosexuality isn't natural,' then you're using animals as your reference point. Clearly my research contributes towards showing that that statement is false. ... Since the Medieval age, people have been using animals as metaphors for what is natural and how humans should behave. ...

If we're going to make statements like, 'Homosexuality is unnatural,' then let's actually examine what's going on in nature."

DENMARK'S LUTHERAN CHURCH TO OFFER GAY WEDDINGS

Denmark's state Lutheran Church will soon offer wedding-like ceremonies for gays and lesbians.

A church commission last week presented bishops with three options ranging from a brief prayer to a gay-specific service that mirrors the traditional wedding.

Denmark is one of four nations where gay and lesbian couples can register their partnerships with city officials and obtain all the rights of matrimony except access to adoption, state-funded artificial-conception services and church weddings. The others are Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

"Like in 1948 when we proposed ordaining women, a small group of pastors on the right have threatened to leave [the church over the matter of gay weddings]," said Arne Bugge, archdeacon of Copenhagen. "None did so then and they probably won't now. Most clergy do not feel very strongly about it either way."

Denmark is more than 87 percent Lutheran but less than 10 percent of the population goes to church.

BRITISH SPY AGENCY LIFTS GAY BAN

Britain's MI5 spy agency lifted its ban on homosexuals last week.

In a communiqué sent to London's The Pink Paper, the agency urged gays to apply during the present recruitment drive.

At the same time, MI5 staff received a memo announcing that discrimination against homosexuals would no longer be tolerated.

"For many years it [homosexuality] was not considered in the interests of national security because of the risk of blackmail," said Government Communications Headquarters Staff Federation Chairman Brian Moore. "That has all changed now and we think it is a very good and progressive policy."

MI5 had fired all known gays since the 1950s, when homosexual traitors Guy Burgess and Sir Anthony Blunt were caught and the KGB successfully blackmailed gay Admiralty clerk John Vassall.