Paul. (I do not condemn him because of his neuroticism. He vas a courageous leader. But I isagree with hi in making Christianity a religion of blood sacrifice, in his lack of respect for manhooi, and in his wholly unvarrante i condemnation of homosexuals.,

3ut thus we have guilt raising its ugly head as one of the chief problems of the homosexual in our society. Now there is, to be sure, a justifiable quilt. I have counselled homosexuals who had guilt and should have had it. They hai vanton ly and knowingly injured not only others, but themselves as well. Guilt in such circumstances is necessary. It gives the only basis for change or improvement.

But unfounded guilt, or more accurately, unwarranted guilt, is a tragic destroyer of the whole, abundant life. Yet the average homosexual has such unjustifiable guilt in large quantity because the laws of his society and the judgments of the popularized religions of his community condem him.

There is only one answer to this predicament of the homosexual. It is not to wail out against society in bitter reproach. Rather it is for the homosexual to change his own opinion of himself so he no longer accepts society's warped view, but rather now sees himself as a son of God, created, not by himself, but by God. This means a major reconditioning. He must get to where he sees his homosexualism as something pure and true and beautiful.

It is not an impossible task. Indeed, everyone in our society, whether homosexual or heterosexual, must do precisely this same thing in their attitude toward sex in general. We all have grown up more or less conditioned in our attitudes toward sex by the distorted views of our society and our churches. It is one of the wonderful experiences of life to so recondition one's view of sex that it is no longer seen as a base, sinful act but rather as an expression of fulfillment of one of God's ideas of what life is supposed to be. To have a healthy view of sex, then, we have this reconditioning task to do. Now the homosexual must simply go a step further and also change his attitude toward himself, the attitude of condemnation induced by society. Whether he is a "respected" member of society with his homosexualism hidden, or behind bars because society has detected him, he must see himself as in "love and favor with God."

Personally I find prayer an indespensable help in changing this conviction about myself. Indeed, to me, prayer is not a means of in forming God of what is wrong with the world (God being Universal Mind must already know that subject somewhat better than I do), nor is prayer a matter of begging God to do something about what is wrong with the world (God being total love does not need to be motivated by man's begging). But prayer is a technique or means by which I change myself, recondition myself, get rid of the false and mattachine REVIEW

destructive emotions, attitudes and thoughts, replacing them with positive, affirmative, creative convictions about life and about myself.

It is true that most homosexuals are neurotic. It is also very understandable why they are. Society has made them that way. Few tasks are more difficult than to live, day in and day out, in a society and community and family which calls you a despicable sinner, without any feeling of guilt and unworthiness. Without this sick condemnation by society, the average homosexual would be no more neurotic than the average heterosexual. Therefore the homosexual has a tremendous job to do. Through proper use of prayer he can do it. He must change the deep inner conviction which he has about himself. When he has that right, the gates of hell cannot prevail against him.

BOOKS

ONE LONG CAMP TO ZULULAND

CAMEL'S FAREWELL by Harry Otis, San Francisco: Pan-Graphic Press, 1961. 140 pages, illustrated with drawings and photographs. Reviewed by John Logan.

کر

"The highest and lowest classes have long since joined hands in frank immorality," said Lord Curzon one time when he was Viceroy of India. This brilliant British statesman also declared amazement at "what white skins the lowest classes seem to have."

Lord Curzon presumably directed this second remark toward the large mass of middle-class English-speaking people. Whether or not he applied it to the multitudes of India and the Dark Continent we don't know..

But we do know that among the majority of people in the Orient, in India, and all over the huge African continent the moral standards of our Englishspeaking cultures do not necessarily apply. These peoples, it would seem, have never been thoroughly subjected to our hypocrisies and double stardards-especially in the sphere of sexual expression.

Harry Otis, world-traveled yarn spinner who wrote The Keval and Other Gay Adventures (published a year ago by One, Inc., of Los Angeles), has done it again. This time he covers parts of Africa, South America, Europe and Asia, with staid old Boston as his point of departure. You'll be seeing itsoon in a new book of fourteen connected adventures called Camel's Fare well. It is a riot of gay fiction, but at the same time a serious sociological commentary on the accepted customs of love expression among the Indians