donald webster

cory

&

john leroy

on

THE BOOK THAT FAILED

'When a person with perfectly normal vision looks at the world through a pair of spectacles designed for one with acute nearsightedness and astigmatism, clearly defined objects are transformed into grotesquely distorted blobs and a severe headache is the result if the glasses are held in place too long. R. E. L. Master's book, The Homosexual Revolution, depicts the homosexual movement in a manner similar to that of a view of reality as seen through a pair of glasses prescribed for someone else. To counterbalance one's impairment of visual perception, properly fitted spectacles are a necessity. The Homosexual Revolution can be prescribed for no one except knowledgeable experts who wish to further acquaint themselves with the distortions of a shoddy exposé. Because homosexuality has for so long been enshrouded in silence, this book is dangerous for the unknowledgeable. Its approach is shabby; the author shows patent ignorance, incompetence, and serves a few morsels of truth, heaps of useless speculation, distortions, hearsay, and half-

baked ideas based on inadequate knowledge that cannot begin to approach what may honestly be called research.

The front cover carries a blurb which reads, "A challenging exposé of the social and political direction of a minority group." Whether or not organized homosexual groups have any clearcut political or social direction is, at best, dubious. During the past ten years, a number of organizations have been set up to ameliorate the social, societal, and economic conditions of people whose sexual practices are at variance with those recognized by our present society. One, Inc., The Mattachine Society and its various former area councils, and The Daughters of Bilitis do have definite aims, but Masters assumes that the aims of these organizations are the aims of all homosexuals and, by innuendo, suggests that these are political, subversive, undefined, and hence dangerous to our society. Let us examine this curious thesis.

The first chapter is concerned with a favorite guessing game. How many

5