Amid this turmoil of classes, cliques, claques and nations, in this welter of god-given moral dicta, in the midst of philosophy, prejudice and an inkling of science, we have those who are categorized as misfits.

Some for religion, skin color or social notions-some seeming mentally, physically or morally unequipped for social strains and compromises-others impelled to infringe certain social restraints.

Identical treatment can't handle the man calling God by an odd name and the man strangling old women for their money, though some societies make no distinction. A contemporary American thinking Ammon-Ra God of Creation may be a misfit but likely won't be hanged for it. But toleration for murderers will be a long time coming. And cripples, idiots and certain psychotics need more

than tolerance.

* *

What are homosexuals? Certainly if the nature of society is sometimes unclear, few things about the homosexual are really clear. Not that there's a shortage of definitions.

Homosexuals are willful perverts (or sinners). Homosexuals are neurotics rejecting the father (or mother) image. They lack moral fiber (or testoterone). Homosexuals rape little girls (or boys). Homosexuals seek father (or mother) incest. They are a middle (or third) sex. Homosexuals are fascists (or reds) At any rate, like the poor, they are always with us.

Obviously some of these ideas must be pure bunk, and others mere occasional factors.

It is not established that there is or must be a single cause for homosexuality, or that it is really the same phenomenon in one person as in the next.

Perhaps one case might stem from glandular imbalance-another from parental relationship. More likely, most have complex causation, nor need we assume the causative factors to be abnormal, except statistically. To Kinsey, any sexual stimulus should evoke response, except as conditioning restrains. Biologically, he sees no reason why anyone might not respond to partners of either sex-thus considering exclusive orientation toward either sex as abnormal.

Is homosexuality purposeless-therefore bad—since it lacks progeny? An exclusive homosexual community obviously would not last many generations. Nor would much farming get done if society spent all its time at music-an argument not likely to deter the eager young man with a horn. No one expects everyone to be musicians or exclusive homosexuals.

The doctors-of-the-mind have a variety of theories, and some solid work behind them, but hardly the "authority" some of them assume. Yet we must not write off too hurriedly their still plausible thesis that homosexuals are mentally ill (whether per se, or as a result of their difficulties in society) and sometimes curable. We do not know if they are wrong or right, but no one should be more concerned than we to find out.

What do we really know about homosexuality?

We know the category has included many great and famous men and women (the same could be said of southpaws and epileptics) and now includes at least five million Americans, with perhaps ten times that number in the fringes. Beyond the range of recognizable homosexual activity, there is the larger area of repressed homosexual desire (which seems related to more serious psychic disorders, such as paranoia and many psychosomatic ailments).