The blogging has been slow the past few days. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, I underwent surgery about a week ago and the swelling and sutures are driving me mad. Secondly, I have been busy finishing an essay on homophobia I presented at Lund University yesterday. I’m pleased with the result, and so are my professors who gave me a very good grade. I feel quite good about myself today.

Last night, a regular reader sent me a link to a Wikipedia article on elephant homosexuality. I quote it here:

African as well as Asiatic males will engage in same-sex bonding and mounting. Such encounters are often associated with affectionate interactions, such as kissing, trunk intertwining, and placing trunks in each other’s mouths. The encounters are analogous to heterosexual bouts, one male often extending his trunk along the other’s back and pushing forward with his tusks to signify his intention to mount. Unlike heterosexual relations, which are always of a fleeting nature, those between males result in a “companionship”, consisting of an older individual and one or two younger, attendant males. Same-sex relations are common and frequent in both sexes, with Asiatic elephants in captivity devoting roughly 45% of sexual encounters to same-sex activity.

Homosexuality is common among all mammals and most other species as well. Animal culture is not restricted by religious ethics and ridiculous traditions. Homophobia is a distinct human phenomenon.