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The Seagulls

In the 1970s, as LGBTQ+ people in the United States faced conservatives whose top argument was that homosexuality is “unnatural,” a pair of young scientists discovered on a tiny island off the coast of California a colony of seagulls that included… a significant number of lesbian couples making nests and raising chicks together. The article that followed upended the culture’s understanding of what’s natural and took the discourse on homosexuality in a whole new direction.

In this episode, our co-Host Lulu Miller grapples with the impact of this and several other studies about animal queerness on her life as a queer person.

Special thanks to, History is Gay (https://www.historyisgaypodcast.com/) podcast.

EPISODE CREDITS

Reported by – Lulu Millerwith help from – Sarah QariProduced by – Sarah QariOriginal sound design contributed by – Jeremy Bloomwith mixing help from – Arianne WackFact-checking by – Diane Kelleyand Edited by – Becca Bressler

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Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.