THE FACT IS, PROFESSOR AYER BELIEVES, THAT THOSE WHO WISH TO

PRESERVE LAWS AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY DON'T REGARD IT AS A MENACE TO THEM. THEY ARE RATHER MOVED BY REPUGNANCE AND THOSE WHO HAVE THE STRONGEST FEELINGS OF REPUGNANCE ARE THOSE THE LEAST LIKELY TO CONSIDER THE MATTER RATIONALLY..

PROFESSOR AYER STATED OPENLY THAT HE "DOES NOT SHARE THE VIEW' THAT HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR IS "WRONG "IN ITSELF. HE DID NOT DENY THAT UNDER PRESENT SOCIAL CONDITIONS THERE ARE MANY ATTENDANT EVILS SUCH AS MORAL ISOLATION, FURTIVENESS ACCOMPANYING FEAR OF RIDICULE OR DISGRACE, DIFFICULTY IN FORMING STABLE RELATIONSHIPS. HE FELT, THOUGH, THAT THESE EVILS RESULT FROM PREVAILING SOCIAL ATTITUDES AND LEGAL SANCTIONS, RATHER THAN FROM THE INTRINSIC NATURE OF A HOMOSEXUAL ACT.

DISCUSSION BY NOTED SOCIOLOGIST AND PSYCHIATRIST

AN INTERESTING PAIR OF ARTICLES ON THE SAME SUBJECT APPEARED IN THE ENGLISH MAGAZINE "TWENTIETH CENTURY" FOR JANUARY 1958, ONE WRITTEN BY THE EMINENT SOCIOLOGIST BARBARA 200TTON, AND THE OTHER BY EMANUEL MILLER, A PSYCHIATRIST AND CO-EDITOR OF THE "BRITISH JOURNAL OF DELINQUENCY".

MISS WOOTTON TOOK UP THE ARGUMENTS WHICH HAD BEEN MADE AGAINST THE REPORT'S RECOMMENDATIONS, AND DISPOSED OF THEM SYSTEMATICALLY. THE MORAL ARGUMENT, SHE POINTED OUT, CANNOT BE SETTLED BY RATIONAL ARGUMENT. "EITHER YOU CONSIDER THESE ACTIONS IMMORAL OR YOU DON'T."

THE UTILITARIAN ARGUMENT (RIGHT ACTION IS WHAT PROMOTES THE WELFARE AND HAPPINESS OF THE GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE) MIGHT SEEM MORE LIKELY, SHE BEGAN, BUT SHOWED THAT THIS TOO WOULD NOT STAND UP TO CAREFUL CONSIDERATION. ANY CLAIM THAT HOMOSEXUAL I TY THREATENS THE SECURITY AND HAPPINESS OF FAMILY LIFE IS WEAK.... "FOR IN CASES WHERE CONFIRMED HOMOSEXUALS ARE INVOLVED IT WAY BE EXTRAORDINARILY DIFFICULT TO ESTABLISH THAT ANY THIRD PARTIES ARE AT ALL CLOSELY AFFECTED; AND THE NOTION THAT HOMOSEXUALS WHO ARE PREVENTED FROM INTERCOURSE WITH ONE ANOTHER WILL FOUND HAPPY FAMILIES SEEMS HIGHLY OPTIMISTIC, AND IS ALL TOO BELIED EY THE UNHAPPY EXPERIENCES OF THOSE WHO HAVE TRIED TO DO IT."

BESIDES THIS, MISS WOOTTON CONTINUED, HOMOSEXUALITY IS LESS TO