The Gay Gulls

Hey Gull Gang!

As i’m sure you are all aware, we aren't called Gulls for no reason. We love seagulls and we’d like to share a little slice of queer/gull history with you today. 

In 1972 George and Molly Hunt, started research on the Western Gull population of Anacapa Island, a small island just off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. Quickly, they found a pair of female gulls who were nesting in the same manner as any heterosexual pair. 

Seagulls are generally monogamous [1]  and after further observation the Hunts concluded that the two had coupled and were indeed a homosexual pair. With this knowledge they looked for more lesbian gull couples and found them all over!

The Hunts had found that 14% of the island’s population were lesbain pairs! Of course, male gulls were involved at one point or another to fertilize the eggs, however the Hunts observed that this was always a temporary arrangement.

The Hunts came to one other important conclusion, that the babies raised by their lesbian gull mothers were as healthy and capable as their hetero raised counterparts.

The other seagull pairs on the island also showed no more aggression towards the lesbian gulls than they did any straight pairing. Homophobia is a uniquely human behavior [2].  

The Hunts’ research (titled ‘Science and The Gay Gull’) was released in 1977 and was the first published work on homosexuality in wild animals. This angered a lot of the right wing who’s main avenue of attacking the progress being made in the fight for queer rights was to claim that homosexuality was “unnatural”.

Many attacked the Hunts’ credibility as scientists claiming, in a move that should only be too familiar to anyone reading this, that they were fabricating their research in order to push a “political agenda”. The National Science Foundation was threatened with removal of funding by the US Congress in 1978 if this research was continued. 

Luckily, it wasn’t all negative responses to their work. Queer rights activists lauded the research and the Hunts’ received correspondence from farmers who had observed homosexual behaviour amongst their animals. 

Very recently it has been found that the gulls on Anacapa island are now all heterosexual pairs - why the change? …Well in the time the studies were conducted DDT (a type of insecticide which caused and causes environmental havoc) may have been affecting the male population of the Western Gulls.

It would be nice to tie up this neatly with a bow but science advances. The research on the lesbain seagulls sparked hundreds of studies and has helped many lgbtqia+ folk find a connection to nature after being told by many that we are “unnatural”.

The bigoted tactic of painting queerness as unnatural in order to other our community has not slowed. Nor has the idea that any research that supports queer acceptance is just a fabrication for political gain. 

For example, research clearly supports the mental health benefits of puberty blockers for trans kids, of affirmation based care and for the benefits of Hormone Replacement Therapy for trans adults and yet this care is being made inaccessible.

Earlier this year the BBC was accused by right wing campaigners of trying to “indoctrinate young children” by airing a segment on Cbeebies describing how clown fish could change sex. It’s important to recognise these attacks for what they are, fear mongering.

Nature always has, and always will be, queer.

Today, many species of animals have been documented as exhibiting homosexual behavior but it was seagulls who were the first to make it into the mainstream. 

So, the next time you are walking down Great Junction Street and a seagull swoops down and snatches the remaining half of your sausage roll, remember that she is probably taking it back to her loving wife and their babies and that will hopefully help ease the blow a little!

Check out this episode of You’re Wrong About to hear more about these lovely lesbian seagulls, gay penguins, and examples of queerness in nature. 

Listen to Engelbert Humperdink sing the classic Lesbian Seagull.

[1] https://birdfact.com/articles/how-long-do-seagulls-live (basic gull facts)

[2] https://www.dw.com/en/there-is-no-homophobia-in-the-animal-kingdom/a-39941960