Fellow QJ.NET writer Max F. maintains that birds have been gay for thousands of years. The rest of us here don't read "GayBird Watcher Weekly," so we're not aware of that theory.

But this next one seems to prove Max's point: over at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) in Slimbridge near Bristol, a pair of gay flamingos named Fernando and Carlos have adopted an abandoned chick, finally becoming parents after six long unfruitful years of being together.

Prior to this, the flamingos have been known for chasing other flamingos from their nests to take over their eggs. WWT spokeswoman Jane Waghorn said, "They were rather good at sitting on eggs and hatching them so last week, when a nest was abandoned, it seemed like a good idea to make them surrogate parents."

The two can actually feed the chick by producing milk in their throats.

The representative of the British conservation organization added that gay flamingos are actually not uncommon especially when there aren't enough females or they don't hit it off with them. "They will pair off with other males," Waghorn added.