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Medical Roundup

Innocent Suffering From Sexual Mixup

By Dr. Walter C. Alvarez

Emeritus Consultant in Medicine. Mayo Clinic And Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Mavo Foundation

Every time I see on a shelf in my library the book “Against the Law," (Messner) by Peter Wildeblood—a fine journalist who had committed no crime, but was jailed for 18 months because he was a homosexual; I feel that every sensible physician in the land ought to rise up and fight

to get legislaOR WALTER C tors to remove ALVAREZ from our statute books our ancient, punitive, cruel and senseless law, the only result of which is to enable an occasional policeman to blackmail some sexually mixed-up man.

Curiously, the law does not bear down on women. who can be just as mixed up sexually as are some men. How strange it is that if a man dresses as a woman, goes out on the street and is recognized for what he is. he is arrested. But thousands of women now go about in pants and no one thinks anything of it. . If two somewhat-feminine men share an apartment. the police look with disfavor on them. But if two rathermannish women share an apartment, no one complains.

A WHILE ago, after all¦ sensible people in England were outraged at what had been done to Wildeblood, an attempt was made in Parliament to repeal the law which had enabled a judgej to send to prison this finei and blameless man. But the legislators said that the Eng-¦ lish people were not yet prepared mentally for such a law-they were not educated well enough and hence. even when the Archbishop of Canterbury said that the law should be changed, nothing was done.