What you can really learn from penguins

Last week, I received an email from my mother that included an article from the New York Times ["Love That Dare Not Squeak Its Name," Feb. 7]. Being the typical college student who doesn't have the time to read any more than she has to in order to keep up with school, I thought to myself, "Oh no, what's this one going to be about."

While she used to have to take the time to neatly clip columns from our local newspaper in order to harass me with extra reading material, thanks to the internet, she can now easily send me as many New York Times articles as she pleases instantly. They're always on some topic that she thinks I'll be interested in such as autistic children (I'm a child development major) or careers and how much money one (not me) can make. But this time, the subject was different. The subject was penguins.

This wasn't an article on just any penguins but two in particular, Silo and Roy. They live together at the Central Park Zoo. For the most part, they are your average penguins, doing the normal things that penguins do (whatever that is, I'm not sure) and living a jolly old penguin life. However, what makes Silo and Roy interesting is that they're a homosexual couple. That's right. They're two males who are more than just friends (gasp); they even have sex.

Well Mom, you did well. This was a topic that really interested me! I can't say I'd ever thought much about gay penguins before or even the sexuality of animals in general. I sometimes joke that I think my beloved feline brother, Tommy, is gay, because it seems he prefers to sit on all human males' laps over females'. What's he got that I don't? I wonder. However, that was the extent of my pondering about gay animals.

I was amazed to read on that not only have Silo and Roy been in an exclusive relationship for four years (how many of us can say that?), but they've even adopted a penguin baby! No joke. After the two males sat on the egg for over a month, the baby was born, and the couple was ready to take care of her. The whole touching story of the happy penguin family really made me think.

It's hard for me to understand how people can see homosexuality as anything but a natural occurrence after taking a good look at Silo and Roy. True, they are penguins and not human beings, but homosexuality has been observed in many animal species. I just don't see how we could look at the penguins and think, "Oh, how cute," and then look at two gay men or women and say, "That is wrong." We're all believed by many to be G-d's creatures, and we're all alive. Why shouldn't we have the same basic sexual instincts?

Yes, some can condemn homosexuality for exactly that reason, calling it "animalistic," but sometimes I think that could be a compliment. Is acting like an animal always a bad thing? Of course, Homo Sapiens are technically "animals" as well. I think in many ways, nonhuman animals are much nicer and less judgmental. It makes me sad to think that Silo and Roy have an easier life than a human gay couple in America. They had no trouble adopting a child and have the comfort of a loving relationship that is probably not shunned by other members of the penguin community at the Central Park Zoo. If penguins had weddings, I bet they could even be married.

The question of who has the right to marry who confuses me. It baffles me how it can even be a question. What right do I have to say who someone else is or isn't allowed to enter into marriage with? To me, marriage is a rather personal issue, just as love and sex are. We are already free to love whomever we choose, to live with whomever we wish, and to do whatever we please with that person in the privacy of our own homes. If a person is in a loving, committed relationship with another person, no matter what genitalia adorn each of their bodies, what difference does it make to the rest of the world if they are married or not? True it is mostly just a title, but to deny a homosexual person from experiencing the joy of marrying the person he or she loves, to have a ceremony in front of friends and family if it's desired, simply seems wrong.

There was a time when the government wanted to prevent whites from marrying black people. To recall that laws were actually passed which banned such marital relationships, making them illegal, is disgusting to most of us today. Just as banning interracial marriages was the result of prejudice and close-mindedness, I think not allowing homosexuals to marry is not markedly different. Some people thought it was wrong, unnatural, sinful even, for whites and blacks to marry. When thinking about those unbelievable laws of the past, many question, how could the government have stood by such a decision? I hope that not too far in the future, people will look back at our current society, where many states still aren't sanctioning gay marriage, and wonder that same question.

Rachel Luck is a senior majoring in child development.