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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 14. 1964.

The Homosexual's Viewpoint:

The Homosexual's Viewpoint:

Homosexuality is not a kind of behaviour, but a condition: it is the condition of being attracted sexually by members of one's own sex. This condition is common both to men and to women, and it is experienced to some extent by most human beings at some stage of their lives.

It is foolish to regard homosexuality and heterosexuality as two absolute classes Into one of which all human beings fall absolutely. Rather, the human personality ranges through all the shades of grey between dominant heterosexuality—the majority of our society—to predominant homosexuality—a largish minority.

What are homosexuals Like?

Many people think of homosexuals as being dirty old men, corrupters of young boys, or screaming queers. These types do exist, but even together they constitute only a small proportion of the homosexual society. The majority of homosexuals are to all appearances quite normal people. They come in all ages and sizes and in every walk of life. They can make themselves just as obvious or as inconspicious as it suits them to be.

On the most conservative estimates of the number of homosexuals in our society it is statistically almost inevitable that there are homosexuals in your family or amongst your friends and acquaintances.

What causes homosexuality?

No one really knows. There is evidence that in some cases the deciding factor is inborn. In other cases the parent-child relationship appears to have been a contributing cause, but much more research is needed on this question.

It is frequently described as a psychological disease. However, on close examination, this kind of terminology can be seen to be dependent on moral judgments. It is no more a disease than is left-handedness. Another minority condition.

So far in this article I have been attempting to clear away the debris of superstition and inaccuracy which surrounds this subject in order to find a rational basis on which to discuss the relationship of the homosexual and society.

Society's attitude to homosexuality has been governed by two principle factors—fear, and moral disapproval. This is reflected in our criminal law which imposes penalties ranging from five to fourteen years imprisonment for various sexual acts between males.

Fear Righteousness?

It is generally true to say that a man hates and fears most what he finds and cannot tolerate within himself. Those men who are most outspoken in their hatred and contempt for homosexuals are often in fact violently repressing their own homosexual tendencies.

Moral disapproval arises from the religious view that homosexuality is contrary to the natural order as intended by God. However, moral problems are surely best left to the individual and his conscience. The law cannot solve moral problems and it is not the business of the law to attempt to do so.

What the homosexual asks for and surely has the right to expect from society, is first the freedom to solve, or at least cope with, his own moral problems, and second, the respect which he, as an individual, is entitled to.