20 NOVEMBER 1942, Page 14

A SUBJECT FOR THOUGHT Ste,—Is it considered that educated thought

and scientific progress are not yet sufficiently advanced to permit ventilation of a subject which, although it may be freely and objectively discussed in psychological, anthropological, biographical works, &c., seems still to be regarded in contemporary life as almost unmentionable anywhere except in the News of the World. I refer to homosexuality. During the course of the legal proceedings against twenty men recently concluded at Aber- gavenny, one youth of nineteen committed suicide on the railway lines, and two others attempted unsuccessfully to do away with themselves by hanging and poison, to avoid the shame of exposure. The reports from which these facts are gathered were published on August 23rd and November 8th in the newspaper referred to above.

It would be interesting to know whether public opinion today regards such suffering as merited, and the savage sentences, up to and including ten years' penal servitude, allowed by the law and imposed by the judge, as the most enlightened method of dealing with this matter.—Yours, &c.,