At least 260 species of animal have been noted exhibiting homosexual behavior but only one species of animal ever, so far as we know, has exhibited homophobic behavior - and that's the human being.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the natural occurrence of homosexual behavior in animals while pointing out that only humans display homophobia.
Stephen Fry's quote suggests that homosexual behavior is a part of nature, observed in various animal species, which challenges the notion that it is an unnatural phenomenon. In contrast, he emphasizes that humans are unique in their capacity for homophobia, implying that such negative attitudes are social constructs rather than natural instincts.
In practice
During a panel discussion on LGBTQ+ rights, one could use this quote to emphasize the unnaturalness of homophobia as a human construct.
I used many times to touch my own chest and feel, under its asthmatic quiver, the engine of the heart and lungs and blood and feel amazed at what I sensed was the enormity of the power I possessed. Not magical power, but real power. The power simply to go on, the power to endure, that is power enough, but I felt I had also the power to create, to add, to delight, to amaze and to transform.
To be human and to be adult means constantly to be in the grip of opposing emotions, to have daily to reconcile apparently conflicting tensions. I want this, but need that. I cherish this, but I adore its opposite too.
There comes a time when the blankness of the future is just so extreme, it's like such a black wall of nothingness. Not of bad things like a cave full of monsters and so, you're afraid of entering it. It's just nothingness, the void, emptiness and it is just horrible. It's like contemplating a future-less future and so you just want to step out of it. The monstrosity of being alive overwhelms you.
As someone who worked hard for a Labour victory in the 90s, do I regret it? Not really. It was bound to happen. And it'll happen with the next government, and the one after it. Because all governments serve us. They serve the filth.
It's now very common to hear people say 'I'm rather offended by that'.
You can't just say there is a God because well, the world is beautiful. You have to account for bone cancer in children. You have to account for the fact that almost all animals in the wild live under stress with not enough to eat and will die violent and bloody deaths. There is not any way that you can just choose the nice bits and say that means there is a God and ignore the true fact of what nature is.
All farewells should be sudden, when forever.
Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known.
This is what I miss, Cordelia: not something that’s gone, but something that will never happen. Two old women giggling over their tea.
The connections we make in the course of a life--maybe that's what heaven is.
Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood.
When the mind sees itself in the mirror of relationship, from that perception there is self-knowledge.
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