Have a gay time at the zoo

By SOPHIE BEST
Thursday 17 January 2002

If Dr Gertrude Glossip has her way at Melbourne Zoo this weekend,
homophobes will no longer be able to fall back on the old line
that "it's just not natural".

For nature itself is frequently queer, as Glossip plans to
demonstrate on her guided zoo tour, Creature Comforts, as part of the
Midsumma Festival.

The tour reveals a steamy underside of same-sex and transgender
activity within the animal kingdom. Lesbian koala couples, frisky
male-to-male gorilla action, heavy necking among male giraffes, and
bump-rumping chimpanzees. And that's not to mention the kinky
peccadilloes of the emu, or the eastern grey kangaroo.

"If our Prime Minister knew what emus and kangaroos get up to, he'd
have them removed from the coat of arms!" exclaims Glossip.

Glossip is the creation of Will Sergeant, a gay activist and
performance artist from Adelaide.

"She's sort of a queer Dame Edna," he says of his character, whom he
describes as an amateur archeologist from a small rural community in
South Australia. Glossip's career began with a gay-history walking
tour at Adelaide's Feast Festival in 1997. Her walks at Adelaide Zoo
during last year's Feast Festival were a great hit, attended by more
than 250 gay, lesbian and straight animal lovers.

"When she started off, she was a bit of a frump," says Sergeant. "Now
she's smartened herself up a bit - with all that contact with gay
men, you've got to!"

The zoo tour is based on the findings of American biologist and
linguist Dr Bruce Bagemihl, whose work Biological Exuberance: Animal
Homosexuality and Natural Diversity was named one of the best books
of 1999 by the New York Public Library and Publishers Weekly.

Biological Exuberance challenged much conventional theory on same-sex
behaviour within the conservative discipline of zoology, by
documenting the sexual practices of nearly 450 species of mammals,
birds, insects and reptiles.

The 768-page illustrated book demonstrated to Sergeant
that "queerness is universal in the world of living things", and
inspired the Glossip zoo tours, which make the boat-ride tour of Big
Gay Al's Big Gay Animal Sanctuary from South Park look, well, tame.

"It is an adult tour," Glossip warns. "I do use technical terms such
as anal intercourse, ejaculation, and same-sex mounting. There are
some very delicate areas, though, such as the whole issue of
intergenerational love - sex with much younger animals - and incest.
They're almost too controversial to suggest, but I do touch on those
in my walk. It does happen, and I don't think we should whitewash."

Glossip has never actually witnessed the same-sex animal partnering
she describes on her tours. "The animals don't perform for me," she
says, a little dejectedly. "I've never seen any untoward behaviour."

The gay life of animals is not all X-rated, however, nor is it all
about mindless sex. As Glossip points out, many animals display
affectionate same-sex behaviour, pair bonding, parenting, and
elaborate courtship rituals. The black-wing stilt, for example,
demonstrates that lesbian mating practices are common within the
ornithological world.

"The black-wing stilt is very lesbian - an elegant Australian bird,"
says Glossip. "The stilts are very civilised. They do change
partners, but often the new pair will invite the divorced birds back
into their home, and I see that as a lesbian interaction."

In the case of black swans, same-sex parenting has successful
results. "Male black swans are excellent parents. They form
longstanding bonds; they either mate temporarily with the female, or
shoo her off and take over a heterosexual nest with their (male)
partner. Chicks raised by gay male pairs have an 80 per cent survival
rate, whereas heterosexuals only have a 30per cent survival rate."

Although Biological Exuberance is a dry scientific text, it has
obvious relevance to queer politics, since its findings refute long-
held notions within biology that sex is geared towards reproduction,
rather than pleasure. In her tour, Glossip uses case studies from
Bagemihl's text to drive this point home.

"Lesbian interaction between gorillas goes for five times as long,"
she says. "Queer animal lovers, what does that suggest to you?"

As for the mutual masturbation practices of elephants, the "bellow
and jerk" of koalas, male-to-male "diddling" by baboons and the
curious mounting behaviour observed among orangutans in the wilds of
Sumatra, these are all, perhaps, best left to the imagination.

"That old idea that the animals went into the ark two by two, as
heterosexual, monogamous couples?" Glossip says. "Darling," she
whispers solemnly, "it's just not true."

Dr Gertrude Glossip hosts Creature Comforts this Saturday at
Melbourne Zoo. Meet at the front gate, 4pm. Tickets $16. For
information, phone 94159819.

Dr Glossip also conducts a queer history walk around Melbourne on
Saturday, February 2.

Oryginal:
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/2002/01/17/FFX9E6RDIWC.html

POWRÓT