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Page 6 — THE BARB September 15,1977
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BOOKSHOPS & FILM GALLERIES
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The Healthy Homosexual
Homophobia CAN Be Cured
Society and the Healthy
Homosexual, Dr. George
Weinberg, Anchor Books,
Anchor Press/Doubleday,
Garden City, New York.
by James Moore
As gay people, we live in a
hostile environment. How
we deal with this fact is what
Society and the Healthy
Homosexual is all about. Dr.
Weinberg wants gay people
to stop accepting society’s
crap and to realize that while
homosexuality occurs in all
cultures, the prejudice
against it only occurs in
some. The fear of
homosexuality, of being near
homosexuals, is called
homophobia. Dr. Weinber
sets the tone of this unique
book with his very first
sentence: “I would never
consider a person healthy
unless he had overcome his
prejudice against
homosexuality.”
Problem is, many therapists
are just as prejudiced as the
general public. A
psychologist living in Dade
County was asked his opinion
of how gay people should be
treated. “If I had my way,”
he answered, “I would beat
them all up.” He doesn’t
sound like he would be of
much help to a gay person,
does he? Dr. Weinberg
warns anyone undertaking
therapy to ask the therapist
his opinion on homosexuality
before laying down any
money.
Homophobia causes harm
to the heterosexual as well.
Just as a person suffering
from claustrophobiaifinds his
life limited, so does the
person suffering from
homophobia. $uch a person
will find it necessary to
censure from his life not only
the things homosexual; but
also anything he associates
with homosexuality (such as
deep friendships with other
males, contact with his son,
Book of tko Yoor
Familiar Faces,
Winner of the Gay
Book Award for 1977 is
Familiar Faces, Hidden
Lives: The Story of
Homosexual Men in
America Today by the
late Howard Brown,
M.D., former health
services commissioner of
New York City. The book
was published by Har-
court Brace Jovanovich
in 1976 and will be out in
Harvest paperback in
October 1977 The award
was given by the Task
Force on Gay Liberation
of the American Library
Association on June 20,
1977 during the ALA’s
annual conference, held
this year in Detroit.
According to coor
dinator Barbara Gittings,
J the Gay Task Force of
ALA chose the Brown
book for this year’s Gay
Book Award because it
“stresses the positive
lives achieved by many
sensitivity, gentleness,
culture, body awareness,
etc.)
If ever an example was
needed to prove that
homophobia is indeed a
sickness, the Save Our
Children campaign should
serve well. I don’t think that
even most gay people, much
less straight people, realize
how hysterical and hateful
that campaign was. We all
heard Anita say: “God hates
homosexuals,’’ but how
many are aware that the
group distributed a packet of
literature containing an
essay entitled “Why Certain
Sexual Deviations Are
Punishable by Death,’’
which claims there are only
two “cures” for
homosexuality: salvation
through Christ, and the
death penalty.
Not exactly normal is it?
But the reason such blatant
statements are downplayed
by the press is that
homophobia is still a majority
opinion in our country. It is
the task of all enlightened
people, Dr Weinberg argues,
to remedy this situation.
His book also contains
excellent, practical chapters
on how to deal with parents
and other hassles like coping
with loneliness. But-the part
that affected me the most
was his chapter: “The
Healthy Homosexual.” Dr.
Weinberg shows how gay
people begin to hate
themselves the same way
straight people learn to hate
homosexuals.
Children do not suffer from
homophobia, he argues. A
child would not understand
why a person sould be put in
prison for giving pleasure to
another person. Somewhere
along the process of
“growing up” we are taught
that there is only one way to
be: heterosexually married.
We accept this even before
we realize we are gay.
Hidden Lives
gay men of Dr. Brown’s
generation...provides the
corrective of reality to
society’s distorted view of
homosexuals... and
speaks up for gay men
living productive lives in
the mainstream of society
as no other book has
done.”
On h^and to receive the
award was Dr. Henry
Messer, a Detroit
neurosurgeon and a
friend to the late Howard
Brown. Dr. Messer told of
hos own association with
Brown since 1972--“I was
the first out-of-the-closet
professional man he had
ever met”--and gave
personal reminiscences
about Brown’s own
heavily-publicized
coming out.
A strong gay rights
resolution was passed on
June 22 by Council, the
elected policy-making
body of the American
Library Association.
We develop an attitude of
prejudice against
homosexuality. This at
titudes leads us into actions,
into decisions: usually to
“hide” it. Dr. Weinberg
points out that actions
reinforce our attitudes. In
other words, every time we
continue an action based on
our original attitude, we
strengthen that attitude. (In
our example, every time we
“hide” our sexuality, we
reinforce the belief that it is
bad.) The only way to break
these attitudes is to con
sciously act in other ways
(“coming out”).
This is not the only
example. We put ourselves
down in a million little ways.
“The Action Approach” is a
method for changing this in
ourselves.
I read this book on the bus
heading toward Atlanta to
attend the Gay Pride March.
The words hit me clearly and
hard. I looked at my life and
this is what I saw: every goal,
every aspiration I had ever
believed I was capable of had
been dropped after I realized
that I was gay. They
weren’t dropped because of
outside forces either; but
rather because I had stopped
believing in myself. Right
there on that bus I decided
that, Anita Bryant be
damned, I am going to be
that school teacher I know I
can be - a damn good one
too.
I guess you could call it
being “born again.”
A few days later I sat with
some .straight people who
didn’t know I was gay. One
referred to a “faggot” who
had “looked” at him that
day. I remained silent as I
had in so many similar oc
casion s. I felt vulnerable.
Long years of guilt told me
to keep my mouth shut.
(Tomorrow, my guilt said,
tomorrow you can. defend
your rights, you’re not up to
it today.) But the book and
the March were both fresh in
my spirit and I said, “Why
do you use the word
‘faggot’?”
Not quite to the point, I
admit, but a starter. As my
companion mumbled some
dumb answer, I felt a rush
tear through my body,
replacing my shakiness with
strength.
“Did you know I’m gay?”
His eyes popped out. “And I
don’t like that word,
‘faggot’.”
Not much to brag about, is
it? Except that the guy later
told me that I was the first
gay person he had ever met
that he respected.
With every positive action,
the new attitude is
strengthened and the old one
is eroded. The road from
guilt to pride is a little scary,
but each step brings with it
more courage.
Dr. Weinberg is a com
passionate, reasonable man.
He has written an important
book, too important to be
ignored. He is so right-on I
want to preach him at the bus
stop.