Many homosexuals

discontented with their lot have from time to time found themselves wishing they could be more like heterosexuals. Most of us have at least looked for some acceptance from this quarter and hoped for eventual integration. Recent signs indicate that we may be getting just what we are asking for perhaps even more if we use the gathering evidence concerning the male homosexual and venereal disease as criteria. It is a case of getting the bad with the good. A marked increase in infectious syphilis has been noted in several major American cities. So we can assume that along with the gradual disappearance of the old taboos and barriers surrounding homosexuality and the ever increasing inter-sexual participation between homosexuals and heterosexuals, has come the blight of venereal disease, especially syphilis, introduced through the relaxation of homo-hetero distinctions.

A quarter of a century ago, homosexally transmitted veneral disease was almost unknown. As a result the homosexual became lulled into the belief that veneral disease, in a fashion analogous to pregnancy, was an exclusive complication of heterosexual relations. This erroneous concept (true as it may have appeared to be) that veneral infections are never or but seldom acquired through homosexual contacts has led us to a false sense of security.

For reasons of his own, Bergler long ago concluded that homosexuality of itself was a disease, with no further complications necessary. In his books he reported having made cures in several hundred cases. Were Bergler living today, he would now be able to cure, not kill, two birds with one stone, as it were. In the last three years, according to the records

of the health departments of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York, the homosexual has been responsible for over 50% of the cases of infectious syphilis in these cities. Here is the Los Angeles record from years 1959 to 1961: in 1959, of 159 men who responded during interview to the question of type of exposure, 89 or 56% named male contact; in 1960, of 324, 77% named male contact; and in 1961, of 500 men, 253 or 50% named male contact. From one of the districts (the HollywoodWilshire) in Los Angeles in 1961, the total was 86%. Figures are not yet available for 1962.

Are we to believe such a count? According to one Los Angeles health official who has asked to remain nameless and who was in charge of this phase of the City's VD program, we definitely should. This official took the trouble to come to ONE's offices and bring the facts as he knows them. The L.A. tally is based on answers given by men questioned at public health agencies who stated that their sexual behavior was entirely with other males for a period of six months prior to the time of the interview. The six month period is considered as the critical stage of infectious syphilis. For purposes of determining who was homosexual and who was not, the health officers arbitrarily excluded anyone who had had a heterosexual experience during the critical period. Now although the health department investigators' interviewing techniques are well-developed and even slick, undoubtedly some homosexual contacts remained undetected so we can sume that the percentages might actually be somewhat higher.

Now a big problem faces the homosexual and public health agencies. If we can generalize from the Los Angeles case and assume that the noticeable increase of reported cases of early

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