because of its permissive attitudes toward homosexuality.

There is no need for going into detailed recounting of historical periods here, other than to make it clear that history affords little justification for supposing that homosexual behavior leads nations or peoples into decline and disaster. Many of the greatest names in Roman history — such figures as Julius Caesar, the poet Virgil and the Emperor Hadrian had either extensive or exclusive homosexual orientation, and these were men of the times of Rome's glory, not of its decline.

It is somewhat less well known that leading roles were played in the Renaissance by men whose homosexuality is fully documented. Even so seemingly austere a figure as the philosopher Erasmus had male loves. The city of Florence called itself "The New Athens" and consciously strove to revive and live in all respects by the ancient Greek ideals. So many great homophile writers and artists burst forth during this period that space can be given to but a few.

Leonardo da Vinci has been called the Universal Man, one of the greatest minds who ever lived. Yet, it is reported that he was once arrested as a homosexual. It can readily be agreed that had Leonardo never lived the world today would be a very different place. As we look upon "The Last Supper" in honesty we must admit that perhaps the greatest of all religious paintings was the work of a homosexual.

Equally great as an architect, painter and sculptor was Michelangelo. Lists exist which give us the names of his male lovers up until he was in his eighties. Again, must there not be honest acknowledgement that the great Sistine Ceiling, the monumental Moses and David sculptures are the work of such a man? Above all, it was Michelangelo who gave the mighty and main plan to St. Peter's, the most awesome of all Christian churches.

Only slightly less numerous were the men of homosexual inclinations in Elizabethan England and later. James I, to whose support and energy we owe the King James Version of the Bible, was conspicuous in his male attachments. So also was Charles II. Both Chritopher Marlowe and Shakespeare himself are recorded as having had homosexual attachments. Certainly, the plays of the latter abound with situations and characters of that description.

Figures of more austere reputation such as Sir Francis Bacon and Milton both had romantic attachments with men. Later, Byron, Thomas Gray, Tennyson, whose "In Memoriam" was written at the death of a beloved friend (the more explicit parts of the poem not usually being printed), Sir Arthur Sullivan and Cecil Rhodes, founder of the Rhodes Scholarships are but a few of the most renowned.

There is not space here even to mention the innumerable figures in French history or in our own country, except to say that in both lands the names are quite as exalted and their influence upon national history quite as great as in the cases already cited.

Does this say that these men were great because of their homosexuality? Certainly not! Does it say that they were great in spite of it? Not that either. What does seem plain is that men of the highest genius and among the greatest benefactors to world culture who have ever lived have shown that their attachments to other men were no handicap. The same thing might be said of the sometimes stormy and turbulent love lives of other great men with their wives and mistresses, for their genius and art always seemed to manage to come forth, whatever the circumstances.

It should also be realized that although in one part of the world and during certain periods public attitudes toward homosexual behavior might be tolerant, or even approving, while at other times and in other lands opposite attitudes might prevail, the presence of homosexuality has always been one of life's facts. Furthermore, it is not at all clear that there has been very much change percentage-wise, whether conditions were favorable, or unfavorable. When even today, sta-

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tistics are far from exact, what can be claimed for estimates of incidence two thousand years ago? Nevertheless, the impression is hard to escape in studying history that the total dimension of homosexual behavior at any time and place may stay at about the same levels.

Confirming this impression has been the experience during the past century in those countries of Europe which one by one have removed laws against homosexual acts from their statute books. Earliest to do so was France during the complete overhaul of its laws at the time of Napoleon, yet visitors to France today may feel that they see less public display of homosexuality there than in the U.S.

In none of the other European countries which have changed their laws, and most of them have, has there been any upsurge in homosexual behavior. Nor in Illinois in this country, which on January 1, 1962, made private homosexual acts legal between consenting adults, has any marked increase occurred. On the other hand, rigid enforcement of laws against such acts has not in any country ever succeeded in doing other than to drive the practice underground, thus making it susceptible to blackmail and other criminal influences, a fact noted by the British Parliament's high-level Wolfenden Commission.

OUR OWN ATTITUDES

With recent biological discoveries indicating that, like all mammals, man contains in his body structures and genes inherited from both his male and his female parents, no one is quite all male, or all female. Psychologicaly, much of what we are has been learned, but biologically males are quite capable of responding erotically to other males, and in large number do so; females likewise can respond to females, and do so.

Prior to adolescence much so-called genital play of this sort is merely exploratory and experimental. During adolescence these same actions take on heightened feelings and emotional overtones. In some cases these involve nothing more than search for physical release of the overflowing vitalities of youth. Occasionally, however, such feelings take on the coloring of a love relationship and may serve as a means for awakening young persons to the depths and meaning of that term.

For boys and girls these experiences will occupy either a greater or a lesser part of their lives according to the ways their circumstances and temperaments may differ. Then, as the teen years are left behind them, these incidents usually fade away of their own accord for all except a relatively small percentage of young people. Adults do well to recognize that strong emotional experiences between young people of the same sex will for some individuals help them to break away from parental ties, a step so necessary if balanced mental health is to be achieved in adulthood.

Evidence that experiences of "same sex love" do not of themselves produce lifetime homosexual orientation is abundant. Those young people who are exclusively homosexual in their orientation report that such had been their orientation from their earliest recollections. Thus, that boys and girls "become" homosexual is highly doubtful. While scientific evidence that some individuals are born with these preferences is by no means conclusive, reports which claim that children have been conditioned into becoming homosexual are also of very dubious reliability.

The only conclusions safe to make from such information as is now available is that homosexuality is a passing experience of relatively short duration in the lives of around onethird of the adult male population; that it is a lifetime pattern for roughly one man in twenty-five, in such cases a pattern usually present from earliest childhood; that these percentages are markedly less among girls and women.

From history it is plain that there is little evidence to support the belief that homosexual practices have brought about social declines in societies where they have been given some degree of approval. On the contrary, men and women known