The German online dating company Gleichklang.de has sent a book on homosexuality in animals to the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni. “Biological Exuberance – Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity” was written by the Canadian biologist Bruce Bagemihl. The book documents homosexual behavior in more than 450 animal species. The book has been sent by the dating company to the presidential office in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, and to the Ugandan Embassy in the German capital Berlin.
The reason for this special Christmas present is that Museveni has expressed controversial views describing homosexuality as “unnatural”: “They’re disgusting. What sort of people are they?” he said. “I never knew what they were doing. I’ve been told recently that what they do is terrible. Disgusting. But I was ready to ignore that if there was proof that that’s how he is born, abnormal. But now the proof is not there … I was regarding it as an inborn problem,” he said. “Genetic distortion — that was my argument. But now our scientists have knocked this one out … respect African societies and their values,” he said. “If you don’t agree, just keep quiet. Let us manage our society, then we will see. If we are wrong, we shall find out by ourselves, just the way we don’t interfere with yours.”
His administration has been linked to the systematic persecution of homosexual men and women in Uganda.
In an accompanying letter, the director of Gleichklang, Seksan Ammawat, and the psychologist Dr. Guido F. Gebauer point to the contradiction of regarding sexual orientation as “unnatural” when it occurs in nature in both humans and animals. They do not expect to receive any reply. They hope, however, that the book may make Museveni aware of the common occurrence of homosexual behavior in nature.
