Persuasive Media Essay
PART A
We'd better get used to animated gay icons
PAUL LIVINGSTON
Barack Obama took one large step for homo sapiens last week when he admitted he was "evolving" in regard to same-sex marriage and has now openly affirmed his belief that gay couples should have the right to marry.
There are those, like Mitt Romney, Julia Gillard, and a small group of Australian medical practitioners, who believe humanity may not yet be ready for such a leap. But it would appear we humans are somewhat behind the evolutionary eight ball when it comes to engaging in a form of allegedly unnatural selection which does not seem so rare once we shift our gaze away from those in the human zoo.
Only last year a pair of male African penguins at Toronto Zoo were forcibly separated after zookeepers observed them showing signs of mating behaviour. Buddy and Pedro were unashamedly out and proud, parading before the general public, touching, caressing, and from all reports exhibiting deep tenderness and compassion for one another.
While zoo authorities acted swiftly to conceal this unpalatable behaviour from the eyes of innocent children, it appears Buddy and Pedro are not alone in the penguin community. Similar bonding has been observed in zoos across the globe.
Take the famous case of Roy and Silo, a pair of chinstrap penguins from New York City's Central Park Zoo who made headlines across the world when they hatched an egg and raised a female chick.
Sadly the relationship ended after six years when Silo dumped Roy for a feisty Californian female named Scrappy. From all reports Roy is currently footloose and fancy free and is actively seeking the company of any other bi-curious flightless aquatic birds.
And it's not just penguins; dozens of species have been observed creeping out of their closets, including dragonflies, koalas, mallards, the broad-headed skink (now referred to as the broad-minded skink) not to mention the appalachian woodland salamander, which for some reason doesn't
We'd better get used to animated gay icons
PAUL LIVINGSTON
Barack Obama took one large step for homo sapiens last week when he admitted he was "evolving" in regard to same-sex marriage and has now openly affirmed his belief that gay couples should have the right to marry.
There are those, like Mitt Romney, Julia Gillard, and a small group of Australian medical practitioners, who believe humanity may not yet be ready for such a leap. But it would appear we humans are somewhat behind the evolutionary eight ball when it comes to engaging in a form of allegedly unnatural selection which does not seem so rare once we shift our gaze away from those in the human zoo.
Only last year a pair of male African penguins at Toronto Zoo were forcibly separated after zookeepers observed them showing signs of mating behaviour. Buddy and Pedro were unashamedly out and proud, parading before the general public, touching, caressing, and from all reports exhibiting deep tenderness and compassion for one another.
While zoo authorities acted swiftly to conceal this unpalatable behaviour from the eyes of innocent children, it appears Buddy and Pedro are not alone in the penguin community. Similar bonding has been observed in zoos across the globe.
Take the famous case of Roy and Silo, a pair of chinstrap penguins from New York City's Central Park Zoo who made headlines across the world when they hatched an egg and raised a female chick.
Sadly the relationship ended after six years when Silo dumped Roy for a feisty Californian female named Scrappy. From all reports Roy is currently footloose and fancy free and is actively seeking the company of any other bi-curious flightless aquatic birds.
And it's not just penguins; dozens of species have been observed creeping out of their closets, including dragonflies, koalas, mallards, the broad-headed skink (now referred to as the broad-minded skink) not to mention the appalachian woodland salamander, which for some reason doesn't