to be homosexually inclined have filled leadership roles on the highest levels of achievement during many of the most notable periods of history. Thus, the argument that homsexuality is socially harmful cannot successfully be based upon historical evidence.

Neither does history show that societies which have regarded homosexuality with tolerance have been inundated with any great increases in the number of persons of this orientation. What does appear to take place wherever some degree of tolerance has prevailed is a lessening of the social pressures on the individual and improved opportunities for his making such cultural and social contributions as lie within his individual capacities. In sociological terms, to give a repressed minority improved social status tends to release capacities and productivity not otherwise available to the community. Societies which repress their minorities inevitably must suffer economic and cultural deprivation.

A serious social problem arising from the stigma many attach to homosexuality is that many men and women fear this stigma enough to cause them to enter into marriage. Such marriages are doomed to failure and usually bring incalculable unhappiness to the marriage partners and such children as may have been born of the union. Experienced marriage counselors are acutely aware that many of the broken marriages and divorces which occur do so because of the homosexuality of one or the other of the partners. Statistics about such cases by their very nature rarely appear in the public records, nor does the amount of juvenile delinquency traceable to the same sources. Yet, in having mistakenly disapproved homosexuality as something which it believes to be evil, society appears to have compounded and multiplied its own problems.

SOME CONCLUSIONS ABOUT SEX EDUCATION The entire question of sane and wholesome sex education is one very much in the public mind at present. What are suitable policies, has been the question? Without any attempt to provide general answers for such questions, it should be stated without any equivocation that no sound policy of sex education can be based upon the assumption that marriage and the procreation of children are desirable goals for all men and all women. Some individuals, literally millions of them, find such a life pattern either not at all possible or, if attempted, resulting in social and psychological damage to themselves and to those around them.

The time has long since passed when any of us can avoid facing up to the fact that homosexual behavior has existed in all higher animal species and in every known human society. We must be willing to start thinking about the implications. for ourselves and for our children of such facts. We must have enough honesty to admit that merely to look away from and to ignore matters we find unpleasant allows all manner of confusion and discord to multiply and makes hypocrites of us, the very charge so many young people make today.

There are many constructive, practical steps every parent, every schoolteacher and all those concerned with the future of our society can take. Not to do so would seem to make us morally culpable:

1. Learn what modern science has found out about human sex behavior, with specific reference to homosexuality; 2. Acquaint yourself with advice and proposals from specialists in the field of such studies;

3. Be open-minded enough to admit that changes are sorely needed, in view of the effects some of the traditional teachings have had;

4. Admit that what is best for you is not necessarily best for everyone else, that variations between humans are too great for any single solution to be able to fit every-

one;

5. Above all, be willing to treat other human beings with the same understanding and respect you ask for your-

self. No amount of skill or knowledge can change the simple rule that we can guide no one whom we despise, nor can we force others into such molds as we may have chosen for them. That is the path of dictatorship.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

It has been the aim of this brief discussion of a complex and difficult aspect of human behavior to lead each of us through a thoughtful session of group therapy. If any one finds himself able to think about homosexuality more comfortably than before, then the therapy session has been a success. If he can now think and talk freely about circumstances and the likelihood some person near and perhaps dear to him may be homosexual, then we have been doubly successful.

The pinnacle of achievement to be hoped for is that each of us may one day be able to treat everyone as a human being unique in his own individuality in exactly the same sense that each of us cherishes our own individualities. The hope is that at least some of us can free ourselves in this way from old fears and unhappy prejudices.

The above article was completed in 1968 under a grant from the INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF HUMAN RESOURCES, Los Angeles based research and educational foundation, for use in a projected pamphlet series. This educational series, including the already published "Homosexuality: 25 Questions and Answers," has been designed not only for the general public but to be of special usefulness to parents, teachers and those actively involved in aiding and training young persons.

Many thousands of the already published pamphlet, the text of which is reprinted here below, have been requested by schools, colleges, universities, public health agencies, prison officials, church study groups, and other organizations, clear indication of the shortage which still persists of authoritative, simply presented information concerning homosexuality.

W. Dorr Legg is a Founder (1952) of ONE, Incorporated, Director (since 1956) of ONE Institute of Homophile Studies; author of a large number of articles dealing with various aspects of male and female homosexuality, editor of a book, "Homosexuals Today, 1956"; lecturer on the subject in many parts of the United States and Europe. Currently he is teaching, jointly with Associate Professor of Sociology Howard Fradkin, Ph.D., at California State University, Long Beach, an upper division course "Sociology of Sexual Behavior" in the Extension Department with the rank of Associate Professor of Sociology.

CATHOLIC

GAYS

CATHOLIC GAYS

Join DIGNITY, a national Catholic group of sincere gay men and women with an active spiritual, educational and social program. For information, write DIGNITY National Office, Box 6161, Los Angeles, California 90055. For Louisville area only, write DIGNITY, Box 8202, Louisville, Kentucky 40208.

7