This is Buddy and Pedro.
News of this flightless pair's plight has leaked across the Canadian border and caused an international uproar. These male African penguins arrived at the Toronto Zoo in May from Toledo, and have since appeared to pair bond (to one another). They exhibit mating behaviors of preening each other, defending their territory, braying at one another and pairing off to cuddle every night after a day of group play. They are described by zookeepers as inseparable. But that's exactly what zookeepers there plan to do: separate them.
The Toronto Star is reporting:
Alas, the love affair will soon come to an end. The Zoo plans to match them with female for breeding. Part of a survival plan for endangered species.
Much more on the latest hot, celebrity gay couple, Buddy and Pedro, after the fold.
2011 has seen the American LGBT community rallying behind a good handful of their community's loving couples who faced the prospect of forced separation by the Department of Homeland Security. In May, Josh Vandiver and Henry Velandia (right) were one of half-dozen couples this year spared the tragedy of separation by deportation at the 11th hour. Dozens more tell their stories at Stop The Deportations.
Though Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and GetEqual have thus far been silent, some LGBT activists are rushing to Buddy and Pedro's aid. Their predicament has attracted the attention of Huffington Post, where the post garnered nearly 1,000 comments almost universally opposed to separating Buddy and Pedro. The story spread through the blogoshere like chum; Towleroad, AmericaBlog ("awfully mean and traumatic"), New Civil Rights Movement ("truly unacceptable"), AfterElton, Proud Parenting and others. The Democratic Underground headline read, "Apparently Toronto Zoo to do reparative therapy on Buddy & Pedro." Back2Stonewall even included the Zoo's contact info. (Phone: 416-392-5929, Email: tzwebmaster@torontozoo.ca, in case you're curious.)
Of course a Facebook group "Keep Buddy and Pedro Together" has emerged.
Mainstream news outlets have picked it up as well, including ABC News, Time ("Tough Love: Toronto Zoo to Separate 'Gay' Penguin Couple), the San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Jose Mercury News. The influential Weekly World News (of Bat Boy fame) also reported it and The Las Vegas Review-Journal posted the plea: "Let Buddy & Pedro be Buddy & Pedro" with a link to the Toronto Zoo's Facebook page for readers to register their comments. The story has even jumped the pond to London's Daily Mail and traveled all the way to Dubai via outlet Al Arabiya.
Part of me is unquestionably sympathetic to the need to keep populations of endangered animals robust and diverse and populous. Big fan here of endangered animals not going extinct. A friend remarked: "We need to donate some penguin porn and small paper cups."
Are folks just anthropomorphizing Buddy and Pedro? It would be understandable if they did. Our own government continues to tear LGBT binational couples apart because the bonds between them are just "not the same" as heterosexual bonds. And too many LGBT people have themselves felt coerced by outside forces into a relationship that felt unnatural. It'd be understandable if they had instant sympathy for two clearly adorable creatures, who just want to left alone to swim and snack on fish and enjoy one another's company. They aren't bothering anyone and there is no evidence their presence undermines flock morale.
And if two caged birds found happiness in captivity, should they not be allowed that small comfort?
Is the need to separate them real, presenting an existential threat to the species otherwise?
Zookeepers say so. Responding to the outcry in today's National Post keepers say the impetus is not anti-gay:
“The two girls have been following them; we just have to get the boys interested in looking at them,” said Tom Mason, curator of birds and invertebrates at the Toronto Zoo.
With Pedro and Buddy’s species on the cusp of extinction, Mr. Mason insists that the Toronto Zoo cannot afford to let a season go by without passing on the pair’s genes. “If [Pedro and Buddy] weren’t genetically important, then we’d let them do their thing,” Mr. Mason said.
"We just have to get the boys interested in looking at them." Sure. What could go wrong with that plan?
Well, we all understand the burden of carrying good genes, huh?
The blog Queerty makes note the pair could be bisexual, but still wonders if zoo keepers are setting themselves up for disappointment: "Will Toronto’s Gay Penguins Willingly Impregnate A Female?" As they say, "You can lead a gay penguin to..."
Commenter David Ehrenstein strenuously objected on Towleroad saying:
YOU CAN'T PRAY AWAY THE PENGUIN!!!!
Michele Bachmann's spokeswoman denies rumors the candidate will interrupt her campaign to stage an emergency penguin exorcism and acquire a foreign policy credential.
Which brings up another perspective on the story: Are we so certain Buddy and Pedro's attachment is even real?
Or is it possible this story is just another fictitious creation of the radical homosexual agenda?
Perhaps it's time to revist The Daily Show's Samantha Bee's 2004 groundbreaking exposé, Birds Of A Feather about gay penguin pair bonding in New York City's Central Park Zoo, who had three same-sex pairs at the time. The Zoo keeper at Central Park denied the sudden interest in gay marriage may have emboldened his flock to seek out same-sex pair bonds, but Samantha is skeptical and investigates the link.
Samantha Bee speaks to Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute (who you may remember from Southern Poverty Law Center's list of anti-gay hate groups). He explains to Samantha Bee that gay penguins don't exist and it is just propaganda. Cameron says of the celebrated Roy and Silo:
If you can believe that these are gay penguins, then you are buying into the "gay agenda."
Although Bee says, "girl-on-girl penguin sex, that's hot," she is quite hostile to dignity of out and proud male penguins, calling Roy and Silo, "feather dusters," "flightless felchers," and "chum guzzlers." Further she inflammatorily editorializes:
"The Central Park Zoo seems Hell-bent on destroying America's children."
It should be noted,
Samantha Bee is Canadian. Coincidence? Maybe our friends to the north aren't as gay-friendly as the hype might lead you to believe.
So many questions to this story.
Are Buddy and Pedro really gay, or just pawns of the radical homosexual agenda?
Is Buddy and Pedro's pending separation really being motivated by need to propagate an endangered species?
Or are Buddy and Pedro merely the latest victims of the anti-gay Religious Right's campaign to erase the LGBT identity from the face of the Earth, and separate them merely to quench their undying thirst to see gay people (and animals) suffer pointlessly? Christian Fundamentalists have long had a deep-seated hatred for penguins, calling them "abominations" as "God made birds to fly not swim."
Oh Canada, we would expect better from you. Is this why we sent our African penguins from Toledo, Ohio to Toronto? Is it too soon to contact Hilary Clinton's State Department to investigate this potentially outrageous international incident of LGBT discrimination?
Update: My friend David Badash, at
New Civil Rights Movement has a helpful action item:
You can "adopt" an African penguin, or help support one, for about $40 or $50. Here are a few links to groups supporting the penguins. I was thinking of "giving" a few penguins as Christmas presents:
South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) or the Dyer Island Conservation Trust.
At least maybe Buddy and Pedro's story can draw some love and attention to the larger problem of conserving our at-risk populations.
Update 2: Well, you know you've arrived at "international sensation" when the Taiwanese studio NMA does an anime about your story. It's been released, and it's good. Marcus Bachmann makes an appearance. I love that the Taiwanese people know who Marcus Bachmann is and his mission in life is to pray away the gay.
