Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Gay Penguins Join the Canadian Marriage Debate

Canadians are currently coming to grips with the same issue that was on the ballot in several American states in the November election: Gay marriage. If gay marriage is officially sanctioned in Canada, you can be sure that many more Americans will come here to legally consecrate their love. My prediction is that this exodus will not be limited to Homo Sapiens. In fact, here at Poutine Diaries headquarters, I've obtained a classified memo leaked to me by an unidentified official at the Central Park Zoo in New York that indicates that Roy and Silo, the park's resident homosexual penguins, are headed northward to advocate for civil rights and squeak their vows. While most Canadians frown on American interference in internal affairs, Roy and Silo claim Antarctic citizenship and profess no political allegiances. In addition, they claim they have been detained in a Guantanamo-style detainment facility without adequate herring rations, and are seeking asylum.

Dimitia Smith's Saturday column in the NY Times, The Love That Dare Not Squeak It's Name, explains how gay penguins have transformed the political landscape of the United States in the last few years. In the zoos of New York, Penguin homosexuals are coming out of the closet; openly displaying their affection for one another with nary a word of censure from other penguins. In fact, penguin flocks actually seem to condone their lifestyle and allow for adoption! Smith writes:

...Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They exhibit what in penguin parlance is called "ecstatic behavior": that is, they entwine their necks, they vocalize to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins. When offered female companionship, they have adamantly refused it. And the females aren't interested in them, either...At one time, the two seemed so desperate to incubate an egg together that they put a rock in their nest and sat on it, keeping it warm in the folds of their abdomens, said their chief keeper, Rob Gramzay. Finally, he gave them a fertile egg that needed care. It worked perfectly...

It seems that since the publication of Bruce Bagemihls 1999 book, "Biological Exhuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity", gay penguins have risen to national prominence in America's legal system.

According to Smith, "...last summer the book was cited by the American Psychiatric Association and other groups in a "friend of the court" brief submitted to the Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, a case challenging a Texas anti-sodomy law. The court struck down the law..."Sexual Exuberance" was also cited in 2000 by gay rights groups opposed to Ballot Measure 9, a proposed Oregon statute prohibiting teaching about homosexuality or bisexuality in public schools. The measure lost".

I salute you, Roy and Silo! Keep pecking away at the wall of ignorance with your cute little gay beaks!
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