AS-199-V Homosexuality—Disease or Way of Life?

Foreword

Today, the problem of homosexuality is even more important than it was a decade ago, for in recent years four new factors have been injected into what has always been a perplexing situation. The public has now become half-aware of the existence of information previously suppressed; the perversion has become more widespread through artificial creation of new recruits as a result of the dissemination of misleading statistics; a new and by no means limited source of marital tragedy (though one does not read about such cases, even in the tabloids) has been opened up by marriages of so-called “bisexuals” to unsuspecting women, who are crushed when they discover that they are not wives but alibis; and most important factor of all, it has recently been discovered that homosexuality is a curable illness.

The conspiracy of silence that had always surrounded homosexuality is now half lifted—in polite conversation. Serious-minded people are alarmed, but unfortunately this alarm has not yet communicated itself to the editorial offices of newspapers and magazines. Reticence in this case helps only confirmed homosexuals, while harming incipient homosexuals, their parents, and the prospective wives of bisexuals, and perpetuating the general ignorance of the subject. For example, Kinsey’s statistics on homosexuals, which fantastically exaggerated their actual number, were barely mentioned in the press; nevertheless they are widely used as an exonerating argument by homosexuals. The only possible remedy for this state of affairs would be to consult specialists who would survey and assess Kinsey’s “findings”; neither newspapers nor magazines have made any attempt to do so. Some personality structures have always been drawn to homosexuality. However, above and beyond the usual crop, there has been a new type of recruit observable in the last few years. These are youngsters in their late teens or early twenties, “borderline” homosexuals in whom the decision “to be or not to be” a homosexual hangs in the balance. The impetus toward homosexuality in these cases is provided by assertions, such as Kinsey’s that every third man one meets on the street has had some homosexual experiences during his adult life. These erroneous statistics are slyly put to use by the older and more experienced seducer: “Who are you,” he asks, “to argue with one-third of the male population? Do you know how many tens of millions are involved? So many millions of good Americans can’t be wrong!” A percentage of these temporary “borderline” cases are true homosexuals. Many are not: their pseudomodernity and misplaced experimentation (growing out of the erroneous belief that homosexuality is “scientifically” approved and normal) have the unhappy result of burdening them with damaging guilt and self-doubt. These burdens remain even after reversion to heterosexuality. The tragic and pitiful spectacle of the “statistically induced homosexual” is due entirely to the failure to disseminate medical facts….