A homeschooled, New Zealand-based teen offered up a bizarre anti-gay rant in a local newspaper, claiming that "ducks could take over the world" if same-sex marriage is approved.
In a letter to the editor of New Zealand's Northern Outlook, the 14-year-old, who is identified by Gawker and a number of other media outlets simply as Jasmin, writes:
"If homosexuality spreads, it can cause human evolution to come to a standstill. It could threaten the human position on the evolutionary ladder, and say, ducks, could take over the world. Ducks always nest in pairs and we if allow same-sex marriage, then the ducks will have evolved further than we have. We will be in danger of all being equal, with ducks more equal than us."
Noting that she doesn't want her children "to have to compete with ducks," Jasmin adds: "If you believe in evolution, you can't be in favor of homosexuality, or the ducks will get you in the end."
Needless to say, the creative, if unintentionally hilarious, letter has prompted some fiery responses. Wrote PZ Myers of Science blogs: "Because you think ducks are all heterosexual, and your children will all be heterosexual (brace yourself, you might get a few surprises in 10 or 20 years there), and a policy of tolerance will turn every other human being homosexual, you're afraid your kids will be competing for mates with ducks?"
Added one Gawker reader: "Couldn't this newspaper have found something a little more enlightening, or at least coherent, to publish? Or did it put this out there so the whole community could have a good laugh at a 14-year-old whose parents have opted to basically lock her intellect in a cage for the majority of her young life?"
Same-sex marriage has been a hot topic in New Zealand as of late. In August, local politicians overwhelmingly cast a first vote in favor of a marriage equality bill that, according to the Associated Press, was given impetus by U.S. President Barack Obama's public support of the cause.
