Remember a few years ago when social conservatives flocked to see March of the Penguins because, in part, penguins are one of only six monogamous animals on the planet and their story was supposed to reinforce the innate beauty of monogamy… or something?

Well, it looks like penguins can once again serve as a metaphor for culture war social issues. A couple of gay penguins in a zoo in China have been thrown out of their colony for trying to steal the eggs of other parent couples (“I told you so,” the social conservatives will say). Zoo officials removed the two male penguins from the rest (invoking the little-known Zoo Proposition 8 ) to prevent them from stealing eggs and ruining the sanctity of hetero penguin marriage.

But, the pro-gay-penguin-rights activists protested, so the zoo keepers decided to “legislate from the bench” and give the gay penguins a couple of eggs given up for adoption by a first-time mother:

‘We decided to give them two eggs from another couple whose hatching ability had been poor and they’ve turned out to be the best parents in the whole zoo,’ said one of the keepers.

‘It’s very encouraging and if this works out well we will try to arrange for them to become real parents themselves with artificial insemination.’

Wildlife experts at the park explain that despite being gay the three-year-old male birds are still driven by an urge to be fathers.

‘One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs. Despite the fact that they can’t have eggs naturally, it does not take away their biological drive to be a parent,’ said one.

The best parents in the zoo? Score one for gay rights activists.

Cross-posted at Ablogistan.