threats to the family...

[Seth Ackerman]

The New Republic, 1939.

> ----------
> From: 	Doug Henwood[SMTP:dhenwood at panix.com]
> Reply To: 	lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Sent: 	Tuesday, May 29, 2001 6:01 PM
> To: 	lbo-talk
> Subject: 	threats to the family...
> 
> [An lbo-talk contest, with, unfortunately, no prize. Here's the 
> beginning and end of an article. In what publication did this appear, 
> and when?]
> 
> The Homosexual: Challenge to Science
> 
> COARSE BUTT of banal humor, condemned and despised, a criminal 
> punishable by law, the homosexual continues to flourish. There is a 
> cyclical character to this growth that is curious and revealing. In 
> our own time, the spate of books on the subject - learned studies, 
> novels of justification, poems, plays - may indicate increased 
> tolerance rather than an increase of homosexuality. Certainly, 
> although the restrictive laws remain, homosexuality is in large 
> measure condoned. The homosexual allows himself to appear more boldly 
> as such.
> 
> Any endorsement of toleration raises questions of social' policy. 
> Would the abrogation of cultural taboos and legal penalties, like a 
> removal I of quarantine, multiply. the infection? Perhaps those who 
> never would have known what the strange strivings were, would now be 
> informed, and succumb. Others who might have exercised restraint, 
> might now loose it. Still others might let themselves, be more easily 
> seduced by, an attractive world of artists, poets, dancers, designers.
> 
> Does this mean that we ought to advocate censorship or suppression of 
> information about homosexuality? Any adequate answer demands 
> consideration of its history and causation.
> 
> Homosexuality from farthest antiquity has been known, and a matter of 
> controversy. Female homosexuality has always been of much less 
> concern because evidences of affection between women are acceptable 
> and not suspect. For practical discussion, homosexuality means male 
> homosexuality.
> 
> [...]
> 
> In order to get more information, we need fewer strictures, not more, 
> on the literature of homosexuality. The Lancet, a British medical 
> journal, notes: "Public attitudes may be perpetuating homosexuality 
> by preventing any real investigation of the subject." Certainly this 
> was true of syphilis before the bold public presentation by Surgeon 
> General Parran. More information from homosexuals and more 
> investigation of homosexuality will serve to illuminate the subject, 
> and perhaps help reduce homosexuality. A scientific study, such as 
> was made of the problem of narcotic addiction and control by the New 
> York Academy of Medicine, would be very helpful.
> 
> At the same time, treatment opportunities have to be developed so 
> that those who are "exposed" and who need or want care can obtain it. 
> The sociological, psychoanalytic and legal aspects need to be 
> explored much more fully. Although sin and crime tend to be merging 
> into sickness, sickness itself undoubtedly has a variety of 
> components that can be dealt with separately -if we get to know them.
> 
> The reason we need to concern ourselves with homosexuality as a 
> social phenomenon at all is the family. Our basic social structure 
> demands a family relationship, and therefore heterosexuality. The 
> family is central to the development of humanity not only for 
> perpetuation of the race, but because the proper psychological 
> development of an individual can only occur within the warm circle of 
> the nuclear family. Social and psychological studies indicate quite 
> clearly that a strong family structure helps to develop and maintain 
> a personality free of dangerous (to self and society) characteristics.
> 
> The family is already under attack from many sides - industrial 
> mobility and increasing female employment, contraceptives and 
> promiscuity, depersonalization in an increasingly mechanical age. 
> Homosexuality is a further threat to its integrity. As such, it needs 
> to be treated and prevented. At present cure is difficult, time 
> consuming, maybe even impossible for many homosexuals; The key to the 
> problem lies in prevention. Prevention waits on knowledge and study.
>