E.M. Forster’s novel “Maurice” (written in 1913 but not published until 1971) tells the story of a young lad of good family and upbringing who discovers himself to be homosexual. Raised in the behaviorally rigid social structure of Edwardian England, he later works - as expected - in his families London brokerage firm. But he is greatly distressed by seeing himself as an “unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort”. Early in the story, he seeks treatment for his sexual “malady” - first from the family doctor who tells him his feelings are “rubbish” and then from a hypnotherapist who advises him to exercise and “stroll about with a gun”.

Maurice came to the big screen in 1987. It’s a lush and well done Merchant-Ivory production with Hugh Grant and Ben Kingsley who plays the part of the hypnotherapist. You can find many reviews of the book and the movie on the Internet.

I begin this article with these bits of book and movie trivia because Forster’s line, delivered by Kingsley in the movie, advising his homosexual client to go strolling about with a gun as an antidote for his “gayness” unfortunately still reflects much of today’s thinking about what constitutes homosexuality. Here we are nearly one hundred years later and confusion about the differences between the concepts of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender role performance still abounds. In this same 100 years of scientific advance, we have gone from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and from wind-up toys to Play Stations, but our cultural views on homosexuality have, in some quarters, not progressed much beyond the late 1800s.

In the advice given Maurice, it’s implied that going strolling with gun (a presumed masculine activity) will somehow re-ignite his manliness and rid him of his dastardly homosexual urges. In essence, the view expressed is that male homosexuality is the opposite of manliness. That all gay men are soft or effeminate - utterly devoid of typical masculine characteristics. This view also extends to cultural expectations that gay men are mostly found in certain feminine identified occupations: hair dressers, nurses, home decorators and others of a similar nature. Yes I know, it’s silly and out of date but you might just be surprised at how many folks still think this way.

While times have changed (well, at least some), it’s discouraging to realize how ingrained are some of these cultural ideas (negative stereotypes) and how they continue to color peoples expectations and beliefs about homosexuals. Granted, in part, the invisibility of gays in our culture (until the last ten or fifteen years) has likely contributed to this continuance. So I try to hold on to the hope that, in this age of more “out” gay people than ever before, there will be changes for the better even in my lifetime. But then I despair on hearing of the harassment and demeaning language used against young gay people in our schools. Is the upcoming generation really any different than the one before? We also read about the ongoing efforts of current “reparative therapy” practitioners who attempt to alter sexual orientation by, among other things, encouraging modern day Maurices to “reclaim” their lost masculinity. I wonder why they just don’t advise these unhappy homosexuals to go strolling about with a gun.

When searching the terms “masculinity and homosexuality” on the Internet, I found the following quote: “Homosexuality is a symptom of masculine insecurity, having not bonded, identified, or become one with our fathers and male peers growing up.” This pretty much sums up prevalent ideas in today’s “repair the homosexual” groups. The core concept expressed is based on long ago discredited pseudo-research and grossly flawed survey information. But such anti-gay propaganda has never really let legitimate science stand in the way of postulating beliefs that have little or no basis in fact. Indeed, these distorted and erroneous beliefs are still offered as if they represented valid and widely accepted social science data.

As with other areas of deliberately perpetuated misinformation about gays (usually done by the far religious right)the confusion between sexual orientation, gender identity and gender role behaviors is, in reality, another facet of their hidden agenda, or shall I say, their several hidden agendas. I’ve addressed those agendas in previous articles and likely will return to the topic later.

For now I’ll simply point out that it somehow seems to comfort homophobes to believe there is a marked and “obvious” difference between good old boy heterosexuals and swishy, soft homosexual males. This is one of the major reasons gay men in team sports have difficulty coming out and why it is that some heterosexuals find it so problematic to believe that gay men can be NFL tackles and even highly trained combat solders. It is also one of the more subtle reasons why the military is distressed by the idea of giving up the “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Risking that openly gay men and women might excel at military duty is simply too stressful a thought and potentially too damaging to the image more comfortably held that gay men (in particular) are weak and easily defeated. The same is true for combat sports such as football, hockey and others. It's much easier to accept a gay figure skater or tennis player - after all, these are not really “manly” endeavors.

Well, in the real world, gay men are found in almost all typically male (by cultural expectation) enterprises. Gay men are present on police forces, in high energy team sports, in military combat and leadership positions, in fire departments, in the logging and coal mining industries and just about any other area you might mention.

In the real world, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender role performance are distinct though related concepts. Gender identity for example is usually defined as the gender, male or female (and sometimes in-between) that the individual self-identifies. This “identity” almost always follows in line with their physical sex, male or female. The vast majority of gay men are in no way confused about their gender identity. They see themselves as male and like it that way. I think the evidence for gay women is about the same. So gay men, oriented towards same-sex attraction by some complex interaction of biological components and possibly genetics, are most always gender identified as male. Not female. They may “define” maleness differently than does the culture at large but none-the-less they are self accepting of their biological sex. The exceptions to these statements are noteworthy but beyond the scope of this article.

So how about “gender role performance”? Obviously, the hypnotist who attempted to treat Maurice in Forster’s novel was a believer in the idea that the male gender role “performance” of taking a stroll with a gun could actually alter Maurice’s internal drive towards homosexual activity. I know you might find this laughable but consider: even today, over a hundred years after the above advice was given (even if in a novel), it’s still suggested to gay men in reparative therapy that they should increase their involvement in culturally typical “masculine” activities. I’ve not yet run across the advice to carry a gun and go for a stroll but some recommendations are pretty close to that. Regrettably, it continues to appear that some well intentioned folks and, in particular, those who write reparative therapy books and create “treatment” programs still are confused as to how most gay men see themselves and how they got that way to begin with.

Here is a quote of contemporary parental advice on “preventing homosexuality in young boys” offered by a well known reparative therapist that illustrates the confusion between gender role performance, gender identity and sexual orientation: “....the boy's father has to do his part. He needs to mirror and affirm his son's maleness. He can play rough-and-tumble games with his son, in ways that are decidedly different from the games he would play with a little girl. He can help his son learn to throw and catch a ball. He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard. He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger." (A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality - Joseph Nicolosi)

I’m not too sure just what Nicolosi was thinking when he wrote the last sentence about showers, but suffice to say that these words, in my opinion, point clearly to the ongoing belief that homosexuality is somehow related to an aberration of gender identity in combination with a failure to develop culturally defined gender role behaviors. These ideas are just not so and have not one shred of legitimate supporting scientific, behavioral evidence.

You can find exceptions to most anything and indeed you find gay males who are, in fact, confused about gender roles and related issues. Sadly, sometimes as gays grow from childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood, some do buy into the prevalent cultural stereotypes of what it’s suppose to mean to “be queer”. In self defense and having no other model, they emulate those stereotypes in a desperate effort to find a place of emotional comfort....even if that place is as a behavioral caricature of the opposite sex. However, I will say that at least in my experience, most gay males I’ve known are not typically confused about their gender identity no matter what their gender behaviors might be. They know they are male and want to keep it that way. In all matters, self-acceptance appears to be the key to emotional health.

Admittedly these are complicated issues and not easily reduced to a few hundred words or a few simple concepts. A great deal of research (of the good kind) has been done over the last hundred or so years and human sexual behavior is still mysterious. Things are not black or white, gay or straight. Fortunately, we humans are much more complex and much more interesting. We cannot be easily classified. Our behaviors, their meanings and origins, do not come in neatly tied and clearly labeled boxes.

As for myself, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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