June 1976

HIGH GEAR

Page 21

R.H.

APA EDUCATES

BURGER

The Honorable Warren Burger Chief Justice

The United State Supreme Court Washington, D.C. 20013

Dear Justice Burger:

I believe that I speak for the overwhelming majority of American psychiatrists when I express my deep distress at the recent decision of the Supreme Court upholding the "sodomy law" in the State of Virginia. As I understand these laws, they apply to heterosexual as well as homosexual behavior, with the exception of a few states such as New York, where married couples are exempted. In most of the remaining states in which such laws are on the statutes, they apply to oralgenital sex between heterosexuals as well

as

to homosexual acts. Contemporary sex researchers indicate that probably two-thirds of the American heterosexual population engage in such proscribed acts.

"criminalized" by the continued existence of "sodomy laws." Psychiatrists agree that, much as with heterosexuals, homosexual men and women cannot easily alter their sexual orientation. Thus, sodomy laws offer them no alternatives but a life of celibacy or one of "criminality," and few can accept the former, just as few unmarried heterosexuals do in contemporary life.

In addition, approximately our percent of the American adult population is estimated to De exclusively oriented towards homosexual behavior and about en percent are predominantly So. Thus, in addition to the najority of American eterosexual population, about !0 million homosexual Americans, male and female, are

The American Psychiatric Association is officially on record as favoring the legalization of homosexual behavior between consenting adults in private, and the American Law Institute, as well as thirteen states in our union have gone on record in favor of such legalization.

The recent decision of the Supreme Court upholding the sodomy law statutes can only lead to a disrespect for the law, when, in fact, so many people are normally engaged in violating such statutes for much of their lives. I strongly urge the Court to reconsider its recent decision and to hear competent medical and legal authority concerning the issues involved.

Respectfully yours,

Judd Marmor, M.D. President, A.P.A.

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