Russian book ‘censored’ as it didn’t show ‘disgust’ over homosexuality in animals
Two male lions (Stock Image, Getty Images)
A Russian scientific journal editor claims his publisher demanded changes to a book on animal sexual behaviour because neutral references to same-sex behaviour allegedly violate the country’s “LGBT propaganda” law.
Viktor Kovylin, editor of Batrachospermum Magazine, wrote in a 3 February post claiming his publisher argued the material in the book was illegal because it did not express “disgust or criticism” toward homosexuality in animals.
Kovylin did not mention the publisher by name, but Novaya Gazeta noted that the journal’s previous books were published by the Eksmo-AST group, which has admitted to using AI to review manuscripts.
READ MORE: Can animals be gay? Experts discover many primate species can be
Russia has steadily expanded its so-called “LGBT propaganda” laws since 2013, culminating in a 2022 ban on nearly all public expressions of LGBTQ+ life and a 2023 Supreme Court ruling labelling the “international LGBT social movement” as extremist.
Of course, homosexual behaviour among animals is not a new theory or observation.
A report in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution previously analysed the behaviour of chimpanzees and macauqes.
It is suggested that the same-sex behaviour developed through evolution, to allow the primates to reduce conflict and build bonds in complex social groups.
Vincent Savolainen, director of the Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet at Imperial College London, who wrote in the study, said: “What we found shows that same-sex is not like something bizarre, aberrant or rare. It’s everywhere, it’s very useful, it’s very important.”
Activity between male-male and female-female primates was documented.
It found that the behaviour was most common when the animals needed to deal with difficult environmental conditions, though was also documented in groups with strict hierarchies in which it could build alliances and avoid aggression within the group.
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