Let's get one thing straight (ahem)... this is a really dumb, muddle-headed and lazily-produced show that falls somewhere between lame comedy and tongue-in-cheek documentary. The very idea of having comic Scott Capurro searching for evidence of homosexuality in animals is fundamentally misguided. First because the comic approach continually undermines any serious examination of the question. Second because Capurro isn't anywhere near smart enough, likeable enough or funny enough to make the concept fly. But if you can endure Capurro's annoying schtick you'll find some of his encounters with scientists, researchers, zoo keepers and farmer (among others) both hilarious and illuminating. Many of these would-be experts are hellbent on denying homosexuality in the animal kingdom despite the evidence before their very eyes. Others want to demonise it. Some just have a somewhat bizarre obsession with it. All of which says more about the humans on display than it does about homosexuality in animals. Only in the final moments of the program does Capurro "discover" the truth: that homosexuality is well-documented in more than 400 species, but is routinely excised from documentaries and research findings and publications. That was 2002. Since then there has been considerably more research and rather less hysteria around the subject, and you'd probably find it damn near impossible now to find anyone who would deny homosexual behaviour throughout the animal world. Which makes The Truth about Gay Animals a curious and quaint piece of gay TV history, for all it's flaws.
3 Reviews
Oh Pluuuuzeee!
geraldjones195922 February 2010
Talk about a film with an agenda! The host's only real talent was trying to confront those he interviewed with his homosexuality.
Every time someone tried to answers his questions with answers that he disagreed with he made fun of them. This film proves nothings and makes Gay People without an agenda cringe at the strident nonsense being presented as scientific research. If he was trying to prove that straight people discriminate against Gay people,,,well Duh, as if we did not already know that. He was pointless at proving anything as far as the sexual nature of animals as the Cambridge Professor tried to point out to him, but our host was not there for answers, but only to harangue the interviewee, no yonder so few people agreed to speak to him.
As a gay man I have to say the host makes me wish I was straight!
Every time someone tried to answers his questions with answers that he disagreed with he made fun of them. This film proves nothings and makes Gay People without an agenda cringe at the strident nonsense being presented as scientific research. If he was trying to prove that straight people discriminate against Gay people,,,well Duh, as if we did not already know that. He was pointless at proving anything as far as the sexual nature of animals as the Cambridge Professor tried to point out to him, but our host was not there for answers, but only to harangue the interviewee, no yonder so few people agreed to speak to him.
As a gay man I have to say the host makes me wish I was straight!
Glad I got to see it
rgcustomer27 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This show is about 40 minutes long (excluding commercials).
The host has the task of finding video evidence of gay animals. I give the documentary a high rating because the video evidence simply speaks for itself, and is rare enough that it is both shocking and wonderful to see. Maybe this is less important now due to the internet and avenues like Youtube. But we didn't have Youtube back then.
In three longer segments, the host investigates gay swans (finding a three-way relationship with two males and a female), a gay dog murdered in a hate crime (maybe), and plenty of gay sheep, complete with evidence of a physical difference between gay and straight male sheep.
Shorter attention is also given to gay bulls and rams, a group of lesbian seagulls, and various gay primates.
Of particular importance is the absurdly desperate insistence by homophobes that there are no gay animals even when given ample scientific and/or video proof. One person says that the animals must have been trained to be gay. Another says that they are "bad" and therefore we shouldn't look at them.
Last, it's interesting in these times to recall that this video was first aired in the year that the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment was first introduced in the US House of Representatives, and the year before (human) gay sex was legalized across the USA, and gay marriage legalized in parts of Canada. It's a reminder of how the world has changed recently.
The host has the task of finding video evidence of gay animals. I give the documentary a high rating because the video evidence simply speaks for itself, and is rare enough that it is both shocking and wonderful to see. Maybe this is less important now due to the internet and avenues like Youtube. But we didn't have Youtube back then.
In three longer segments, the host investigates gay swans (finding a three-way relationship with two males and a female), a gay dog murdered in a hate crime (maybe), and plenty of gay sheep, complete with evidence of a physical difference between gay and straight male sheep.
Shorter attention is also given to gay bulls and rams, a group of lesbian seagulls, and various gay primates.
Of particular importance is the absurdly desperate insistence by homophobes that there are no gay animals even when given ample scientific and/or video proof. One person says that the animals must have been trained to be gay. Another says that they are "bad" and therefore we shouldn't look at them.
Last, it's interesting in these times to recall that this video was first aired in the year that the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment was first introduced in the US House of Representatives, and the year before (human) gay sex was legalized across the USA, and gay marriage legalized in parts of Canada. It's a reminder of how the world has changed recently.
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