"SYCHIMEIST URGES MEDICAL, LEGAL *NDERSTANDING OF HOMOSEXUAL

The very great majority of homosexual acts do nothing to destroy the social structure or to disrupt the family, Dr. Norman Reider, chief of psychiatry at Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco, recently stated.

Speaking before the California Academy of General Practice in Los Angeles, Dr. Reider declared his belief that modern laws against homosexuals are· largely unfair, unjustified and ineffective.

Noting that present attitudes and laws affecting sexual behavior stem largely from old religious traditions, he declared that "sin is confused with crime!!. The vague and confused laws governing sexual behavior, he said, do little to help society and instead "give police a dangerous discretionary power."

The confusion in the law books is matched by a similar confusion in the medical books, and there is no complete agreement on the causes of homosexuality or on the best treatments, he said. Dr. Reider added that certainly neither punishnent nor ridicule has any helpful effect.

Medical men are now learning that some homosexuals can be helped by psychiatry, and perhaps ? few have actually been cured.

The noted psychiatrist called for greater understanding on the part of the medical profession. When homosexuals seek medical help they usually need the services of a skilled and experienced psychiatrist but some will accept treatment only from a family physician. In either case, he said, "the doctor must not talk to the homosexual ag ff homosexuality were a sin."