Queer Ducks (and Other Animals)
Eliot Schrefer
2022, Katherine Tegen Books

I believe it was the philosopher Pinkman who said:

For at least 700 years (since Thomas Aquinas) opponents have relied on the argument that since queerness doesn't exist in the natural world, it is therefore unnatural in humans being. 

The premise is false. The argument collapses. Yeah, science!

Schrefer makes compelling and entertaining arguments that same-sex sexual behavior is by no means unnatural. Quite the opposite. There are animals who prefer same-sex partners, reaching out to another only for procreation. Some critters are gender fluid; others are trans. Schrefer points to animals who could fairly be called poly and ace.

One Eureka moment for me was how "bisexuality (is) the essential norm throughout the tree of life, not heterosexuality." Data show that a fluid sexuality creates an evolutionary advantage, a "bisexual advantage." 

Queer Ducks offers ten chapters, each focusing on a specific critter. Interstitial one-page comics imagine a support group for these varmints, allowing each a chance to introduce themselves. Most chapters are followed by a Q&A with a scientist who has studied the issue. The importance of these conversations is clear: without queer scientists in the field, the right questions are not being asked.

Schrefer's tone is light; he smoothly blends humor and fact. Every chapter contained at least one laugh-out-loud sentence. To wit:

• Bonobo farts are simply epic.
• Penguins are gonna penguin.
• Just some old-school penis-tentacle comparison.
• The snails had preferences. Snails!

The lighter moments help balance the distressing reality that science has historically tried to erase us queer folk. We have been dismissed as aberrations and statistical anomalies. Science (or, more precisely, the cultural biases influencing scientists) chose a prescriptive rather than descriptive approach to nature. Anything not cis and het was discarded and ignored. 

But nature is so much more complex and diverse than human biases allow. Nature is beautiful because of its diversity, not despite it. True science must look beyond tradition because, in Schrefer's words, "Traditions are just peer pressure from dead people."

Yeah, Mr. Schrefer! Science, b!+@h!