Bruce Bagemihl is a Canadian

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize in ...

, linguist, and author of the book ''Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity''.

Life and career

He completed his BA at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1981, and served on the faculty of the University of British Columbia, where he taught linguistics and cognitive science. He earned a Ph.D. in linguistics from UBC in 1988, with a dissertation entitled ''Alternate phonologies and morphologies''. ''Biological Exuberance'' cites numerous studies on more than 450 species (see List of animals displaying homosexual behavior) showing that

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

and

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

behaviors are common among animals and proposes a theory of sexual behavior in which

reproduction Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual or ...

is only one of its principal biological functions. Bagemihl proposes that group cohesion and lessening of tensions, seen for example among

bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee, is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus '' Pan,'' the other being the comm ...

s, are other important functions of sexual behavior. He also argues that the implications for humans of homosexual behaviour across the animal kingdom are "enormous." His book on homosexuality in animals was cited by the American Psychiatric Association and other groups in their '' amici curiae'' brief to the United States Supreme Court in '' Lawrence v. Texas'', the case which ultimately struck down sodomy laws across the United States. The book formed the basis for the museum exhibition Against Nature?. He has also published several essays and scientific articles on issues related to language, biology, gender, and sexuality.

Selected publications

* Bruce Bagemihl. 1988. The morphology and phonology of Katajjait (Inuit throat games). ''Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique'' 33(1), 1-58. * Bruce Bagemihl. 1999. ''Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity.'' St. Martin’s Press. * Bruce Bagemihl. 2001. Animals Do Do It. ''Alternatives Journal'' 27(3), 36.

References

External links

NewScientist "Queer Creatures" 07 August 1999Article about Bagemihl's work in the German weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” (in German)
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Sexual orientation and science University of British Columbia faculty Canadian biologists Linguists from Canada LGBT scientists from Canada Canadian gay writers Linguists of Salishan languages 21st-century LGBT people {{Canada-academic-bio-stub