There is now a gender neutral penguin living at London's Aquarium

'It is completely natural for penguins to develop genderless identities as they grow into mature adults'

Tuesday 10 September 2019 14:06

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Meet Sea Life London's first genderless penguin

London Aquarium has its first-ever gender neutral penguin.

The genderless penguin, which has yet to be named, will be the first penguin to not have an assigned gender at the SEA LIFE London Aquarium.

While gender neutrality is normal amongst penguins, newborn penguins at the famous UK aquarium have traditionally been given gender-based names.

But on this occasion, expert Aquarists decided it would be more natural for the chick to grow and develop into an adult without an assigned gender.

The Gentoo penguin chick is currently four months old and will be identified for health and welfare purposes via a purple band that it has been tagged with.

Top 25 LGBT moments in pop culture since Stonewall

Show all 25

1/25Top 25 LGBT moments in pop culture since Stonewall

A song about a young gay man leaving home, accompanied by a video which shows desire, persecution, rejection and ultimate freedom, Jimmy Somerville’s anthem epitomised the experience of generations of gay men.

Youtube

Singer Dana International provided another big moment of visibility for transgender people when she won the competition for Israel with her song “Diva”.

Getty

Tony Kushner’s epic two-part play tackled the Aids crisis in the context of contemporary America and its many ghosts. A profound piece of theatre.

Katy Raddatz/Museum of Performance and Design

Madonna took voguing from the ballroom culture of New York’s black LGBT scene and repackaged it for a global audience, bringing along some of its best dancers for her iconic music video. Her rap, which name-checks Hollywood screen legends, is one of pop’s campest moments.

Sire/Warner Bros. Records

While “Vogue” was for mainstream consumption, the cult documentary Paris Is Burning went behind the scenes of the glamorous ballroom culture, exploring the darker reality of those outcast and stigmatised by a hostile society.

Alamy

While Friends has often been criticised over its LGBT representation, this was one moment it did get right.

Rex Features

As a rap song advocating for same-sex marriage, “Same Love” sends a impactful message of support from a traditionally hostile area of the music world.

Youtube

An obvious and bizarre publicity stunt, but this split-second snog at the MTV VMAs is surely the most famous same-sex kiss of all time.

Getty

Our beloved Miami foursome weren’t just camp icons – they were ardent LGBT allies. In one much-discussed episode, Blanche is upset that her brother is marrying a man. Sophia gives an impassioned speech, saying: “Everyone wants someone to grow old with – and shouldn’t everyone have that chance?”

Alamy

The gay kiss featured in this memorable video was a huge signal to a generation of kids that their feelings were normal, and that individuality was to be celebrated. An LGBT anthem was born.

Youtube

Grindr was brand new when Stephen Fry showed it off to Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson, and his estimated global audience of about 350 million. App downloads quickly shot up, and gay hook-up culture was never the same again.

BBC

Now the most-high profile lesbian in the world, Ellen took the bull by the horns when she came out in a memorable episode of her sitcom, with a simultaneous cover of Time magazine on which she declared: “Yep, I’m gay.”

Russel T Davies’s groundbreaking Channel 4 series was unapologetic in its portrayal of gay men and their sex lives, and taught a pearl-clutching British public about rimming.

Channel 4

A powerful portrayal of a young black man coming to terms with his sexuality, Moonlight broke through barriers for LGBT, black and Muslim representation when it triumphed at the Oscars.

Getty Images

One of the most successful TV shows in the world, Modern Family succeeded in portraying Mitchell and Cameron as parents just as capable of raising (and embarrassing) their daughter as any straight couple.

20th Television

When Culture Club appeared on Top of the Pops to perform “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?”, the androgynous look of its colourful frontman threw viewers and the UK tabloids into a spin.

BBC

Lady Gaga’s love of the LGBT community, and her status as "Mother Monster" for all outcasts, was brilliantly channelled into this mainstream dance hit. In a rebuke to religious inspired homophobia, she delivered the poignant lyric: “I’m beautiful in my way, cos God makes no mistakes.”

Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox was the first transgender woman on the cover of Time magazine, while Caitlyn Jenner presented herself for the first time on the cover of Vanity Fair the following year. Transgender people were being seen, understood and appreciated like never before.

Six months after being spectacularly outed after an incident in a Los Angeles public toilet, George Michael decided to own it, with this number one single, complete with an outrageously tongue-in-cheek video about cruising. Jaw-dropping to this day.

Youtube

Glee presented high-camp musical numbers and wacky plot lines alongside some of the first openly gay and transgender characters seen within a high school setting. Its impact on a post-millennial generation of kids forging their own queer identities was enormous.

Fox

Perhaps the most famous LGBT film of all time, Brokeback Mountain was the first to put a gay relationship front and centre in a mainstream Hollywood plot.

Focus/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

Freddie Mercury wasn’t open about his sexuality when he stole the show at Live Aid, but he was unmistakably one of our own. His 20-minute tour de force in front of two billion TV viewers goes down in history as the greatest rock performance of all time.

Alamy Stock Photo

The first mainstream film to portray the HIV/Aids crisis was built on a haunting performance from Tom Hanks and brought an understanding of the issue to millions of cinemagoers.

Rex Features

The show that launched a thousand memes. RuPaul’s incredible popularity is a testament to how widely the show reached out beyond the LGBT community and into the wider public, who have been duly educated about drag culture and the courage of those who take part.

Getty Images

Will and Grace was the first time a sitcom put gay characters front and centre, and delighted audiences with its razor-sharp wit. Joe Biden once said the show “probably did more to educate the American public” on gay issues than anything else. Powerful stuff.

Rex Features

The animal will be raised by two female penguins, Marama and Rocky, who adopted it earlier this year.

Graham McGrath, general manager at SEA LIFE London, said: “While the decision may ruffle a few feathers, gender neutrality in humans has only recently become a widespread topic of conversation, however, it is completely natural for penguins to develop genderless identities as they grow into mature adults.

(SEA LIFE London Aquarium

(SEA LIFE London Aquarium)

“What makes us really proud at the aquarium is the success of SEA LIFE London’s Gentoo breeding programme and the amazing job of same sex penguins Rocky and Marama who took the chick under their wing and raised it as their own.”

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