Dear Divorce Doctor,

A homophobe hates those whose sexual preferences are for their own sex.

A homophobe would hate Plato, Sappho, Leonardo Da Vinci, Erasmus, Michelangelo, Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, Lord Byron, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Peter Tchaikovsky, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, John Maynard Keynes, T. E. Lawrence, Charles Laughton, Noel Coward, Laurence Olivier and Alan Turing.

However, a homophobe could still like Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Napoleon, Mussolini and Genghis Khan.

Homosexuality has existed since earliest history. In ancient Greece, erotic attraction and sexual pleasure between males were often an ingrained, accepted part of the cultural norm. Some activities, however, were disapproved of, even as other aspects were accepted and admired. In cultures under the sway of Abrahamic religions, the law and the church established sodomy as a transgression against divine law, a "crime against nature" practiced by choice, and subject to severe penalties, up to capital punishment — often inflicted by means of fire so as to purify the unholy action. The condemnation of penetrative sex between males, however, predates Christian belief, as it was frequent in ancient Greece, whence the theme of action "against nature," traceable to Plato, originated.

In the last two decades of the 19th Century, a different view began to predominate in medical and psychiatric circles, judging such behavior as indicative of a type of person with a defined and relatively stable sexual orientation. Karl-Maria Kertbeny coined the term homosexual in 1869 in a pamphlet arguing against a Prussian anti-sodomy law.
The recent coinage of the word is significant. It indicates that, while the tendency and activity was recognized, there might have been less concern about it.

I am neither a homophobe nor a homophile. I don’t regard sexual preferences confined to consenting adults as anybody else's business.

As the Victorian lady said, "What anyone does to each other is their own affair as long as they don't do it in the street where they might frighten the horses."

I have friends whose sexual preferences are unknown to me. They are my friends because I enjoy their company not because of their sexuality.

David f “I was accosted by a prostitute recently who asked me if I were interested in female companionship. It seemed enough to simply say, "No." I don't think a person deserves a beating because that person makes a sexual advance.”

And I wrote “any male who accosted me in a public toilet….”

Your prostitute example differs on two points,

Your declared “female companionship” and

her solicitation of you was not, I presume, promoted adjacent to the heady atmosphere of a bank of urinals.

And I too have been solicited on the street by “ladies of the night”, without feeling threatened in any way, whilst I would feel intimidated by an approach from a male lurking in a dingy dunny.

DD I agree with you.

Homosexuality is not normal, it is abnormal and whilst I am prepared to “tolerate the abnormal”, it does not mean I would ever consider it being promoted as equal or as valid or as a “normal” variant of human relationship.

And before the homophiles decide to jump, it is simple

If a homosexual relationships were as valid an arrangement as a heterosexual relationship, they would be able to procreate in the same manner as heterosexuals.

We, rightly, tolerate the physically and intellectually challenged, within the greater community, without ever presuming or pretending their circumstances make them “Normal”.

We should, similarly, tolerate the sexually challenged (homosexual), in the same manner.

Col Rouge- "Homosexuality is not normal, it is abnormal and whilst I am prepared to “tolerate the abnormal”, it does not mean I would ever consider it being promoted as equal or as valid or as a “normal” variant of human relationship... If a homosexual relationships were as valid an arrangement as a heterosexual relationship, they would be able to procreate in the same manner as heterosexuals."

You mean like all those billions of nasty perverse non-reproducing worker ants, bees, wasps and termites? There are thousands of species on this planet where non-reproducing individuals are the norm and reproducing individuals make up a tiny minority- does that make queen bees abnormal invalid and inferior? Such adaptations are even found in mammalian species- for example: the mole rat.

Individuals can still be evolutionary successes without reproducing themselves by contributing to the survival of their family members so that their genes are passed on through their blood relatives.

Considering the jealous nature of primate sexuality, having non reproductive males around that did not compete for females with a group's alpha male would have been a considerable advantage for early hominids as the more males living peacebly together in a group, the better their advantage in competing with other hominid groups, and in hunting and fending off predators. I've often wondered if this may be why there are statistically higher rates of male homosexuality in comparison to lesbians.

Thanks to research by Sweden's Karolinska Institute (since reproduced elsewhere) we now know that homosexuality is hardwired into the brain and that homosexual brains respond to the pheromones of their own gender in the same ways as heterosexual brains respond to those of the opposite gender. American research on animals (ironically protested against by gay and animal rights activists because its aim was the elimination of gay rams from domesticated sheep populations) has indicated sexuality is determined before the third trimester of a pregnancy.

(cont. below)

Homosexuality isn't chosen, a fetish, or a product of psychology. It's neurological with observable mechanisms that compare with those of heterosexuality. Homosexuality is as normal for homosexuals as heterosexuality is for heterosexuals.

Its important to note-

We only have Gerard's killer's version of events as there were no witnesses.

He claims Gerard exited a stall with his trousers around his ankles, shuffling towards him in an attempt to hug him. A person so encumbered shouldn't be difficult to escape from and he could have fled as soon as he saw Gerard's state of undress. There is no indication that his position in the toilet blocked an escape.

I've not heard an explanation as to why the killer had a knife. He had to locate it on his person, retrieve it, then unfold it to stab Gerard- this does not seem an unthoughtthrough action to me.

Personally I detest beats. They are a sad anachronism from the age of criminalisation and I do everything I can to discourage their use. That said, in the community where Gerard lived there is no appropriate venue for gay men to meet each other and socialise- let alone a disabled one. Nearly 30 years after decriminalisation there is not a single gay venue north of the Harbour Bridge (I believe someone tried to establish a gay bar in North Sydney about 15 years ago, but patrons and staff were so harassed by local youths it quickly shut down). Gay men should not have to move away from their heterosexual friends and families to expensive city ghettos in order to live their lives openly and freely, nor should they have to spend hours on transport just to meet a partner or hold their hand in public without being screamed at. Provide gay men with a space in your communities to live openly and with dignity and that is how the vast majority will live. This case also highlights the need for resources directed at assisting disabled people in coming to terms with their sexuality so that it manifests itself in appropriate ways in their adult lives.

Andrew Potts writes

'Homosexuality isn't chosen, a fetish, or a product of psychology. It's neurological with observable mechanisms that compare with those of heterosexuality. Homosexuality is as normal for homosexuals as heterosexuality is for heterosexuals.'

What a load of crap. How is it that many women after raising kids then decide they are lesbians. Homosexual behaviour is abnormal to nature. Sodomy has far higher rates of disease than normal sex. At least be honest about your justification for deviancy.

The stigma and negative attitude of some people in society, force many homosexuals to follow the hetrosexual lifestyle.

It is only in their later years, they come to terms with their right to be who they naturally are. Sad! But a question society should be asking themselves.

It is also sad that those who say they believe in "Jesus" and "God", can be so callous and indifferent to their fellow human beings.

By their callous indifference, it shows that there is no love in their beliefs or possibly their lives!