The following article and "Table of Contents" are extracted from a Syllabus in preparation by the Director of ONE Institute. He has told the Editors that the dearth of published material on the sociology of the homosexual points up the urgency of developing this much-neglected field of scholarly investigation. It is his contention that much of the misunderstanding and confusion concerning homosexuality so prevalent in the psychiatric, psychoanalytic and psychological professions will be cleared away once homosexuals are studied as a group rather than as individuals.

This viewpoint has developed, he states, out of his six years of classroom experience at ONE Institute and in particular while teaching a course, "The Sociology of Homosexuality." As one of the Founders of ONE, Mr. Legg has had a broadly-based view of the homosexual men and women about whom he writes. Prior to his association with ONE he had devoted many years to intensive research of the literature of homosexuality and to university teaching, as well as to the observation of homosexual group behavior in a number of American cities.

HOMOSEXUALS IN AMERICAN SOCIETY

by William Dorr Legg

It is generally acknowledged that the number of homosexual men and women in United States is somewhere in the millions. The exact figures are considerably in dispute but few would question that the homosexually inclined constitute a major population group.

In view of this one would expect to find an extensive sociological literature devoted to various aspects of homosexuality. Such is not the case, however, for sociologists usually devote only a few scanty paragraphs to the subject. Out of 588 pages in a comprehensive text on Social Deviation homosexuality is given a little more than two pages in a section, "Murderers and Sex Offenders," but this is an unusually extensive treatment. It is more usual to find social scientists. making no mention of the subject at all, as in a large volume recently issued through the joint efforts of several departments of one of America's most prestigious universities on the subject of juvenile delinquency.

What possible explanations can be found for this situation? Is it ignorance? Is it prudishness? Is it some form of "scientific myopia"? Perhaps some clues can be had by noting the ways in which sociologists classify homosexual behavior. Almost without exception they have grouped it with alcoholism, delinquency, disorganization of the personality, crime and similar topics. In so doing they have, on the one hand, full support by the legal codes of most states in viewing homosexual acts as criminal and, on the other hand, the verdict of majority medical and psychological opinion that homosexuality is deviant behavior, therefore, abnormal.

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