Frankie is once again a widow. But only for a short time. As the novel closes, she has taken another homosexual husband to rescue if not reform, the narrator's swish host from Gozo.

A rather puzzling aspect of the novel is why Brooke should have made a number of details about his "Nigel" coincide with biographical facts about Denton Welch, including even the same art school. His own apparent feelings about Welch (as expressed in the Introduction to the Journals) and those of many other leading British literary figures, would not seem in any way to support an identification of Welch with the untalented and "phony" Nigel.

Towards a Quaker View of Sex

Here in the REVIEW presents the introduction to the recently publicized "Quaker Report" on sex. The views expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the attitude of the Friends Home Service Committee, or of the Religious Society of Friends. They do, however, very much reflect the attitude of the Mattachine Society, and that section of the report devoted to homosexuality will be featured in the May REVIEW.

EDITOR'S NOTE

The material for this essay has been prepared by individual members of the group, considered and amended by the group as a whole several times, and finally cast into its present form by the. Editor. No apology is made for the evident variety of styles that has survived his pruning and re-arrangement: to have sought complete literary unity would have robbed the matter itself of life and vigour.

A word must be added, for non-Quaker readers, about the use of the word concern. In Quaker experience a concern is: "a gift from God, a leading of his Spirit which may not be denied. Its sanction is not that on investigation it proves an intelligent thing to dothough it usually is; it is that the individual, and if his concern is shared and adopted by the Meeting, then the Meeting knows, as a matter of inward experience, that here is something which the Lord. would have done, however obscure the way, however uncertain the means to human observation." (Roger C. Wilson: Authority, leadership and concern. Swarthmore Lecture 1949.)

Grateful acknowledgement is made of generous financial assistance from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (made available through the Friends Temperance and Moral Welfare Union) and of the practical, help afforded by the staff of the Friends Home. Service Committee. We are particularly indebted to Jean James, who cheerfully and efficiently reduced our complicated drafts to excellent 'typescript on several occasions.

mattachine REVIEW

I. INTRODUCTION AND BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

The origins of this essay lie in problems brought by young Quaker students, faced with homosexual difficulties, who came to older Friends for help and guidance. It appeared that the Society of Friends as such had little to say to people troubled sexually, and that at the same time many Friends were in serious doubt whether the Church's traditional view spoke to this condition. The need was clear for research into sexual problems and morals: and for Friends to ask themselves where their responsibility lay. A group of concerned members of the Society accordingly gathered in 1957 to re-examine through thought and prayer this most difficult of problems. It has met regularly ever since and includes those with experience in teaching, penology, marriage guidance, psychiatry, biology, psychology and the law.

At some of our sessions we have had representatives of the following Quaker bodies: Young Friends; Headmasters of Quaker Schools; Marriage and Parenthood Committee; Temperance and Moral Welfare Union; Penal Reform Committee; and the Guild of Social Workers, as well as individual Friends. It was clear that many had thought deeply about these problems and welcomed a chance to discuss them. The reception accorded to our article in The Friend of 20th May 1960, setting out our concern, and to a report of a later one-day conference (together with later correspondence) has further convinced us that even where Friends know little of these problems, most are ready and anxious to examine them with care and sympathy. Primarily the task of the group was to consider what the Quaker faith could say to homosexuals and to others who found that society strongly, condemned their sexual feelings and who found, too, that the expression of those feelings could lead to victimisation, blackmail, and imprisonment, whereas "normal" heterosexual conduct, however irresponsible, went virtually unchallenged. The group soon found that the study of homosexuality and its moral problems could not be divorced from a survey of the whole field of sexual activity: a few pieces of the jigsaw-puzzle could not be identified without the whole picture.

In the course of its meetings the group has asked what is known about sexual behaviour and its patterns, and whether sexual behaviour is to be found "worthy of all men to be received" and in accord with both Christian thought and scientific discipline,

The questions are sweeping and time has not been unlimited; consequently our answers are tentative and incomplete. With the help and encouragement of Friends and others it is our hope that further study of the moral and scientific questions will become possible.

To begin with we were aware that there is much needless suffering and human failure which Friends, in their own way, would wish to relieve; and that in subscribing to a moral code, some of which it no longer accepts, society merits the charge of hypocrisy and its