How Lesbian Seagulls Changed the Gay Rights Movement
For many underserved groups in 1960’s, movements were underway paving the way for the future and making great progress in granting equal rights and protections. Unfortunately, for the LGBTQIA+ community, advancements in these areas were difficult. American attitudes towards homosexuality were mostly conservative and hostile, claiming it to be against nature. Amidst this struggle, some unexpected good news arrived from a remote island in California.
In the 1970’s, two UC Irvine researchers, George and Molly Hunt, were busy working on Anacapa Island near Santa Barbara studying bird behavior and ecology. One day in 1972, Molly noticed something interesting: one of the nests on the island was being built by two female seagulls. Not only that, the two seagulls were also raising a child together!
The definition of sexuality is somewhat sketchy in the animal kingdom. For animals, it’s difficult for us to tell whether most relationships are based on solely reproduction or if there’s a component of emotional attraction. It’s not as if animals can tell us what they identify as. Despite the perhaps muddy comparison between humans and animals, it was reported that these were “lesbian seagulls”.
Molly was thrilled about the two female seagulls building a nest and raising a hatchling and immediately told George. George, on the other hand, was quite skeptical about her observation. At that time, there were little record of homosexuality in wild animals. People believed that homosexuality only existed in humans fueling one of the argument extensively used by anti-gay rights groups that homosexuality was unnatural, thus it must be evil and against God’s will.
However, George’s skepticism was dismissed after he visited the Anacapa Island with Molly. He confirmed Molly’s observation and concluded that there were lesbian seagulls on the island. These seagulls quickly attracted the two scientists’ interests, changing the course of their research. George and Molly studied 1,400 different seagulls total, discovering that about 14% of them were strictly lesbian. In 1977, they published their research announcing to the world that homosexual behavior was discovered in seagulls ( “Science and the Gay Gull”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1977/12/04/science-and-the-gay-gull/da397a4c-ea60-4763-885c-c1b879d4e0b2/).
Unsurprisingly, many people were shocked and angry about their work and the couple was quickly met with huge amounts of backlash. If widely accepted, this discovery could overturn the belief held by many religious conservatives that homosexuality was unnatural. Many scientists were also questioning their research because there seemed to be no clear benefits of homosexual behaviors for the population from an evolutionary perspective. Newspapers released numerous articles criticizing the couple’s research as a waste of tax money. Some people questioned their credibility as scientists, believing that they were using their research to promote a political agenda rather than accurately reporting their findings. Even the Congress got involved. During a 1978 hearing, the Congress threatened to cut funding for the National Science Foundation if they kept supporting research into these seagulls.
Not all reactions to the lesbian seagulls were negative, however. Many gay rights activist groups around the country were excited about this new discovery and donated money to support the research. Farmers sent letters to George and Molly agreeing with their findings as they themselves had observed homosexual behaviors in their own farm animals. With growing publicity, George and Molly received more funding for their research in 1978, and this time, they wanted to figure out what made the Anacapa seagulls the way they were.
They first speculated that it was hormone levels. However, after measuring various hormone concentrations in different seagulls, they failed to find any distinction between those that exhibited homosexual behavior and those that did not. By any measure of behavior, lesbian seagulls were the same as straight seagulls except they built larger nests. During reproductive season, both of the lesbian seagulls would have sexual intercourse with male seagulls. However, after they laid eggs they would kick their male partners out of their nest and take care of the eggs with each other.
The children raised by lesbian parents behaved no differently than those raised by other seagulls. Most importantly, the seagull community on the island seemed to accept these lesbian couples. There were no hostile behaviors toward them. Even those “cheated male surrogates” were not bothered by the lesbian seagulls. In the time when homosexuality was criminalized around most parts of the country, the seagulls were much more tolerant and accommodating about homosexuality than humans were.
George and Molly ended their research in the 80's due to the seagull’s population decrease caused by DDT overuse. In 1990's, when a group of gay rights activists invited George to go to the Anacapa Island with them, there were no seagulls anymore. Even when the seagulls disappeared, research about homosexuality in animals did not stop. Homosexuality has now been reported in hundreds of species ranging from reptile to bird to mammal. (Melissa Hogenboom, “Are there any homosexual animals?”, http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150206-are-there-any-homosexual-animals)
Scientists now also have a better understanding about the role of homosexuality in nature. The “kin selection theory” proposes that even though homosexual animals themselves cannot have their own kids, they usually help to raise offspring from their relatives, which increases the overall survival rate of the family. Despite some controversies over this hypothesis, it does explain homosexuality in many social animals such as primates and lions.
Public opinion about homosexuality was also shifting. With more evidence, people began to believe that homosexuality was simply a part of nature. An LA theatre group performed a play called “Supernormal Clutches” named after these seagulls. Tom Weinberg released a song called “Lesbian Seagull” to commemorate George and Molly’s research. By “coming out” to human society, the lesbian seagulls on the Anacapa Island revolutionized public perception about homosexuality. If seagulls can live peacefully with their lesbian neighbors, why can’t we?
