Pride Month: Science’s Latest Findings on Sexual Diversity among Numerous Species

I write this at the end of Pride month, but it will run on July 1. 

For years I have cited a statistic that science has found 464 other species besides humans who practice homosexuality. That number has now blossomed to over 1500 observed species.

Why is this important? Because for many centuries the argument against the diversity of gender preference has been that it is “unnatural.” For heterosexuals, who are surely the dominant group of humans, homosexuality seems “unnatural;” but for homosexuals or bisexuals, that is not the case. When we find other species where gays and lesbians practice same-sex attraction, then that tells us something additional about the diversity of gender preference in nature as a whole.

And all this tells us something about God as well, for as Thomas Aquinas alerted us in the 13^th century, “a mistake about creation results in a mistake about God.” Thus we need to consult science before we pronounce on many topics of ethics and morality. Ignorance about nature results in ignorance about God, and can create havoc in our churches and theologies.

Many Christians and Christian institutions have told us that, in effect, God is homophobic and does not tolerate sexual diversity. But that would seem not to be the case at all, as we study human populations where about 8% of people are gay or lesbian all around the world. Furthermore, as Seneca woman and Franciscan Sister Jose Hobday told me years ago, most spiritual directors to the great chiefs in America were gay or “two-spirited,” and it is recognized among her people that gays are more spiritual than straight people. This is true in Celtic and many other traditions as well. 

A recent study about animal same-sex-behavior concludes that the entire topic is underreported.* Common bottlenose dolphins, giraffes, African elephants, penguins, beetles, lesbian sea gulls, swans, and numerous other species display gay sex. 

Josh L. Davis, in his book, A Little Queer Natural History, published by University of Chicago Press, demonstrates how “sex in the natural world is wonderfully diverse,” and includes split gill mushrooms with over 23,000 mating types. “The diversity we see in our own species needs no justification and represents just a fraction of what exists in the natural world.”

Those who pontificate from a place of homophobia, be they popes or politicians passing homophobic legislation, ought to operate from a place of modesty and humility in the face of Creation’s vast diversity.

* Same-sex behavior among animals is being underreported, study finds, Rosa Rahimi, CNN.com, June 21, 2024.

See Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest, pp. 142f., 202, 255f., 345f., 355, 93, 184, 143, 382.

See also Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh, pp. 259, 377.

And Fox, “The Spiritual Journey of the Homosexual…and Just About Everyone Else,” in Wrestling with the Prophets, pp. 243-266.

To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.

Banner Image: The USDA headquarters on the National Mall in the District of Columbia, lit up in Pride colors during June, 2022. Photo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Wikimedia Commons. 

Queries for Contemplation

What follows vis-à-vis homophobia in society—including the effort to pass over 400 anti-LGBTQ bills by politicians this past year—when the news of nature’s sexual diversity is unveiled?

Recommended Reading

Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)

Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life

In one of his foundational works, Fox engages with some of history’s greatest mystics, philosophers, and prophets in profound and hard-hitting essays on such varied topics as Eco-Spirituality, AIDS, homosexuality, spiritual feminism, environmental revolution, Native American spirituality, Christian mysticism, Art and Spirituality, Art as Meditation, Interfaith or Deep Ecumenism and more.