BAA BAA GAY SHEEP

NON-MATING RAMS ARE ENJOYING A NEW LIFE ON A GERMAN FARM, SUPPLYING WOOL FOR AN LGBTI FASHION SHOW IN LOS ANGELES

- STORY: VANESSA FRIEDMAN / NYT

The machine used to process the wool. Woollens at Michael Stücke's farm shop.

Designer Michael Schmidt, the Chrome Hearts collaborator and rock'n'roll couturier to divas like Cher, Shakira and Sabrina Carpenter, was shocked when he heard about the "gay sheep".

Or, to be fair, he was not shocked that some rams are considered gay, or "male-oriented", meaning that they decline to mate with ewes, a behavioural pattern seen in approximately one out of every 12 rams, and that scientists have studied for decades.

Rather, he was shocked to discover what happens to many such sheep that are part of large flocks on working farms - the kind of establishments where, said Scott Carmody, the head of domestic operations for Woolmark, the usual ratio is one ram per 50 ewes, and the job of the ram is procreation.

If the ram does not fulfil his duty, he is generally sent to the slaughterhouse. Essentially, "the sheep are killed for being gay," Schmidt said.

Schmidt thought that perhaps fashion could change the situation.

So though he generally spends his days working with chain mail and Swarovski crystals, he has joined forces with Rainbow Wool, a German nonprofit created by a farmer in deep Westphalia who rescues the non-mating sheep and cultivates them for their wool, and Grindr, the LGBTI dating app that bills itself as the "gayborhood of the world", to bring the story to life through a 37-piece knitwear collection.

On Thursday, the knits were showcased in the first Rainbow Wool fashion show - though calling it a "show" is, Schmidt said, a misnomer.

"It's an animal rights story," he said. "And it's a human rights story."

According to Tristan Pineiro, the senior vice-president for brand marketing and communications at Grindr, it is also "a metaphor for how gay people are treated across the world".