Michal Grzes, a conservative politician in Poland, has been fuming about a 'gay' elephant named Ninio. The elephant, acquired by the zoo in Poznan, has shown a marked preference for male over female companionship.
This has upset Grzes who protests that:
We didn't pay 37 million zlotys ($11 million) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there.
We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?
Grzes is a member of Poland's right wing Law and Justice Party aka 'Outlaw and Injustice Party'. A few years ago the party formed a coalition with the League of Polish Families and the Self-Defence Party. Both have a record of nationalist and homophobic rhetoric.
Michal Gzres
Former leader of Law and Justice, Polish president Lech Kaczynski, tried to ban gay rights parades in Poland and refused to deal with parade organizers on the grounds that "I am not willing to meet perverts".
So it comes as no surprise that a politician with the Law and Justice Party has an issue with an allegedly gay pachyderm.
Ninio wouldn't be an exception when it comes to elephant sexuality. Male elephants do engage in same-sex bonding and mounting.
Grzes might be jumping-the-gun on Ninio however. Head of Poznan zoo said the 10-year old elephant may still be too young to know which way he swings. He explained that elephants only reach sexual maturity at the age of fourteen.
