Natural History of Homosexuality

It takes courage to add yet another title to the plethora of current titles about homosexuality, but Mondimore, a practicing psychiatrist from Charlotte, N.C., offers a valuably balanced study written in clear language. Above all, he has no axes to grind. Too often, bookshop shelves offer works written only for an inner circle of gay readers, but the present study is expressly meant for those not in the know on subjects like the historical persecution of gays, the psychology and biology of homosexuality, social issues like ""stigma management"" and even the thorny problems of transsexualism and transvestitism. Mondimore notes that, in dozens of American states, anti-homosexuality laws are still on the books; he points out, too, that Germany has never paid reparations to the 50,000 gays put into concentration camps for extermination by the Nazis along with Jews and gypsies. This humane text does, however, offer some hope, such as in an amusing photo of a 1965 gay rights march in front of the White House, where men and women looking like anyone's relatives in formal dress picketed with signs like ""Fifteen Million homosexuals protest Federal Treatment."" At its best, Dr. Mondimore's new book reflects this kind of courage. Illustrations. (Nov.)