Bravely saying the obvious - report on homosexuality from the Institute on Religion and Public Life, written by university scholars - Editorial

National Review, March 7, 1994

THERE ARE SOME things one just does not do. Not if one is an academic in good standing and hopes to remain that. So it is with a sense of surprise, not untouched by admiration, that we note the appearance of "The Homosexual Movement: A Response," issued by the Ramsey Colloquium of the Institute on Religion and Public Life. Published in the March issue of First Things and then excerpted in the Wall Street Journal, the statement is authored by 21 distinguished thinkers from diverse institutions, including Princeton, Yale, Catholic University, Oberlin, and the University of Virginia. We expect that those who have put their names to this document will be hearing from the keepers of campus orthodoxies, few of which are enforced as zealously as gay liberation.

"The Homosexual Movement: A Response," while a manifesto of sorts, is almost painfully temperate in tone in line with the stated purpose of the document: "The gay and lesbian movement, and the dramatic changes in sexual attitudes and behavior of which that movement is part, have unloosed a great moral agitation in our culture. Our hope is that this statement will help turn that agitation into civil conversation about the kind of people we are and hope to be." There can be no doubt about the great agitation. Beginning with the "Stonewall Riot" of June 1969 and reaching a crescendo of media promotion in the last year, we have witnessed a remarkable insurgency demanding fundamental changes in how we order our lives. Cheering on "The Gay Nineties," The Nation declared (May 3, 1993): "All the crosscurrents of present-day liberation struggles are subsumed in the gay struggle .... "

The First Things statement views such hype with a measure of skepticism, noting that "the homosexual movement" is by no means monolithic. Some who are homosexual are not part of the movement at all. "They want no more than help and understanding in coping with what they view as their problem; others ask no more than that they be left alone." Among those who identify with homosexuality as a social and political cause, there is a sharp division between those who want to "mainstream" homosexuality and those who are set upon a moral and cultural revolution. But the movement is one in its demand for moral, social, and legal approval of homosexual behavior. "The Homosexual Movement: A Response" addresses policy disputes such as the recognition of "gay marriages," child rearing by homosexuals, and employment discriminations designed to protect vulnerable young people.

Drawing upon religion, moral reason, law, and common experience, the signers contend that there is a legitimate and urgent public interest in sustaining and strengthening "the heterosexual norm." "Marriage and the family husband, wife, and children, joined by public recognition and legal bond are the most effective institutions for the rearing of children, the directing of sexual passion, and human flourishing in community." Most Americans do not need to be persuaded of that. Yet, in the fact of the gay insurgency and the sexual confusions of which it is part, the same Americans are often uncertain about how to make the case for what seems to them obvious. The authors say: "We seek to articulate reasons for the largely intuitive and pre-articulate anxiety of most Americans regarding homosexuality and its increasing impact on our public life." They articulate those reasons with great effect, and we hope their effort elicits the civil conversation that they desire even, if that is still possible, on the campus.