By Christopher Cappiello

Norwegian Museum Show Highlights Gay Animals

What would Dr. Doolittle find if he could talk to these animals? A new exhibition at the University of Oslo Natural History Museum documents same-sex bonding and sexual activity among a wide range of animal and insect species, drawing the conclusion that homosexuality cannot be seen as unnatural, Reuters reports.

“Homosexuality has been observed for more than 1,500 animal species and is well-documented for 500 of them,” exhibition organizer Geir Soeli told Reuters. “We may have opinions on a lot of things,” reads an exhibition statement, “but one thing is clear: Homosexuality is found throughout the animal kingdom; it is not against nature.”

The exhibition, which opened Oct. 12 in spite of condemnation from Christian groups, includes two stuffed female swans sitting on eggs to represent the not uncommon occurrence of two female birds raising chicks together. Photographic images include a male giraffe mounting another male for sex, and two huge erect whale penises bounding above the water as the giant mammals rub together. The exhibition also includes documentation of homosexual behavior in penguins, parrots, beetles and dozens of other species.

“The sexual urge is strong in all animals,” Soeli explains. “It’s part of life. It’s fun to have sex.”

Civil Partnerships on the Rise in Scotland

According to statistics released by Scotland’s Vital Events Quarterly Return for the second quarter of 2006, the rate of same-sex civil partnerships is up by 20 percent.

“In the first three months of 2006, 259 partnerships were registered,” Registrar General Duncan Macniven told BBC News. “This rose to 315 in the latest quarter.”

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 went into effect in December 2005, so interested parties on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate are watching the numbers to see if gay couples take advantage of the legal recognition of their relationships.

“Almost all of the increase was because more female partnerships were registered,” Macniven said, “up from 92 to 147.” The ratio between male and female couples is now almost 50-50, whereas earlier statistics showed that male couples accounted for almost two-thirds of civil partnerships.

Traditional marriage in Scotland showed a 3.5 percent decline in the same second-quarter period.

Nigerian AIDS Activist Murdered

Hailed for his intelligence, editorial skills and courage, Nigerian journalist and AIDS activist Omololu Falobi was shot to death in his car in the city of Lagos on Oct. 5. He was 35.

“Falobi’s death is a great loss for Nigeria,” the international nonprofit organization Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. “We share the grief of his family and fellow journalists, for whom he was a model of courage and dedication. It is vital that the Nigerian government should appreciate the scale of this tragedy and should ensure that it does not go unpunished.”

Details remain unclear about Falobi’s death. It is known that he was on his way home from addressing a group of young entrepreneurs on the subject of ethics and social responsibility. According to Reporters Without Borders, gunmen followed his car and shot him several times in the forehead in what was believed to be a robbery attempt. Other reports claim Falobi was caught in crossfire. Shortly after the incident, an anonymous call to the police reported a man had been killed in the Agbado district of Lagos.

Falobi was founder and executive director of Journalists Against AIDS, an organization dedicated to spreading education and prevention information about HIV/AIDS to people across Africa, particularly in the impoverished countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

“Omololu was an inspired and really dedicated leader in the world of journalism, who took a stance early on to mobilize the media in Nigeria to play its part in forcefully confronting HIV/AIDS,” said Penny Duckham, executive director of the California-based Kaiser Family Foundation’s Media Fellowship Program.

American journalist Mark Schoofs recalled how Falobi put him in touch with important sources in Nigeria for his 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning Village Voice series, “AIDS: The Agony of Africa.” “The story from Nigeria was the best from that series,” Schoofs said. “I simply couldn’t have got that story without Omololu’s help.”

Falobi was also a member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles-based Black AIDS Institute. “He was a quiet but clear voice on our board,” said Executive Director Phill Wilson in a statement. “I am still in shock. The global AIDS community has lost an amazing advocate.”

Falobi is survived by his wife and two children.

Australia Shows Alarming Rise in HIV Infections

Australia’s National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research reports that the rate of HIV infection rose by 41 percent between 2000 and 2005, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Gay men accounted for nearly 70 percent of the new cases, according to The Associated Press, leaving health officials concerned that advances in treatment are making people less likely to practice safe sex.

“It’s very possible that people are just not prioritizing safe sex as they maybe used to in the very serious HIV/AIDS era of the late 1980s and early ‘90s,” said John Kaldor, the center’s deputy director, to the AP. “It might be that improvements in HIV treatments have lessened the motivation for people to protect themselves sexually.”

“Government investment in HIV prevention has remained static while the epidemic has been steadily increasing,” said Don Baxter, executive director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations, to the Morning Herald. He criticized the government’s lack of response and pointed out that funding for two HIV research facilities had been cut by 25 percent.

Baxter also expressed concern that “treatment optimism” was allowing people to “rationalize having unprotected sex.”

At the end of 2005, Australia had 22,361 reported cases of HIV, with 9,872 people diagnosed as having full-blown AIDS. Approximately 6,700 Australians have died from AIDS, according to the center’s report.