for the homosexual-whether now in service, or about to be inducted-is one of willingness to make an intelligent adaptation of conduct to the outward circumstances which prevail. Those who find they cannot should consider means open to them for voluntary discharge, or means open to them for honorably avoiding an almost certain plunge into disaster. Readiness to use these means could result in greater welfare for the homosexuals concerned, and for the military establishment as well.
The homosexual's attitude toward himself and toward the values of life and society generally-not the prejudices of some others against the homosexual-is what determines his success or failure in making a satisfactory adjustment to life. This is certainly as true of the homosexual in service as of the homosexual about to leave service and re-enter civilian life. If the discharge is honorable, then the readaptation to civilian life will present no external problem. But if the discharge is other than honorable, then external problems are quite likely, if not certain, to arise.
Under the latter circumstances, civil service jobs are practically out of the question. Applications for jobs in large corporations especially those working under government contract, usually require detailed facts about military status, supported by documentary proof. This may also be true of applications placed through employment agencies, and of applications for significant administrative jobs, even with smaller businesses. Yet employer policies vary widely; some employers seem completely indifferent to military records, and hire a prospective employee on the basis of immediate personal evaluation of his general outlook and capabilities for the job offered. Here, the healthiness of the homosexual's own attitude, and the presence or lack of self-assurance, are all-important. In
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the trades, skilled or unskilled, the homosexual with an other than honorable discharge can usually find ample opportunity for employment, depending upon his own skill or knowledge and, again, upon his own attitude toward himself and others. There will also be nothing to prevent him from going into a business or profession for himself, if he is financially and otherwise capable. All in all, the prospects for such a homosexual in later civilian life are not nearly as dismal as some might believe. True, there will be obstacles in several directions, some virtually insurmountable as things are at present; and if one is of the disposition to do everything in the most difficult way, there may appear to be nothing but barriers ahead. However, this is an illusory view, and not in accord with facts, as others have experienced.
Some homosexuals like to cite the armies of classic Greece in which, so it is said, homophile love-relations accompanied (and even inspired) superhuman acts of heroism, physical bravery and selflessness upon the field of battle in which a fierce idealism concerning one's country and one's leaders went hand in hand with an equally fierce, and often sensual, devotion to one's comradesat-arms and to the virtues of manhood generally. At our present position in history, it appears useless to attack or defend this set of values, or to deny that it very probably existed and produced some remarkable warriors from among the men under its influence.
The point is that we are presently not being reared as a nation of warriors among whom such a set of values could possibly apply with any sense or realism. Within living memory, no invaders have violated our immediate borders, nor have there been any internal necessities which
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