Pious Trash: Gay Lions Shock Kenyan Censor
Two lions were photographed after one mounted the other in a secluded bush area of the Masai Mara game reserve in southwest Kenya. Ezekiel Mutua, the chief executive of the Kenya Film Classification Board said: “These animals need counselling, because probably they have been influenced by gays who have gone to the national parks and behaved badly. I don’t know, they must have copied it somewhere or it is demonic. Because these animals do not watch movies.” He added, “That is why I say isolate the crazy gay animals, study their behavior because it is not normal. The very idea of sex even among animals is for procreation. Two male lions cannot procreate and therefore we will lose the lion species.” Mutua is known for his anti-LGBT statements and banning “pro-gay” movies. He recently banned “Rafiki,” a love story about two teenage girls in Nairobi. 
The “gay lions” photo was taken by wildlife photographer Paul Goldstein, a British guide for Exodus Travels. Goldstein said the lions first stood side by side, and then one lay down and was mounted by the other. This isn’t the first time two lions have been seen in a same-sex embrace. In March 2016, photographer Nicole Cambre snapped a male mounting and humping another male in Botswana. 
Craig Packer, the director of the Lion Center Center at the University of Minnesota observed that this kind of behavior among lions is rare. “It’s not really sexual and it tells us a lot more about those officials in Kenya and their homophobia than anything else. ” Packer said the photograph captured a moment of social bonding among male lions living in groups of two or three. These groups are called “coalitions” and members cooperate to drive off rival males and take over prides of females. Coalition males are typically affectionate, licking and flopping down on each other, Packer said. On occasion one lion will mount another. Packer speculated that the behavior seems to be a way to smooth over social tensions. Female lions do it, too, he said.
