[robowombat]

Interestingly Harvey Milk was a generally squared away and competent intel analyst while a Navy officer. In 1964, the first time he could vote he supported Goldwater. When his active duty commitment was completed his department chief and the ship's exec tried to convince him to put his papers in to be a ‘career active duty reservist’ and assured him that in a few years he would be able to become a regular Navy officer. After Milk came out he did come out and rapidly became known even in Castro Street for his aggressive cruising and pushy libidinsnous that even aggravated some of the gay lads. He also used his camera store as a front for selling drugs of all sorts, starting with cannabis and diversifying over time. As he was not loath to admit, it was his dope peddling that kept him financially afloat and the camera store was just a front and more of a hobby than a real business. Further , Milk regularly, used such things a Quaalude to make sure his gay date would end well as well as supplying dope to young addicts in return for sex. Harvey Milk is not the first man to go steeply downhill on the road to complete degradation after ‘coming out’. While the two are not a progression for all gay caballeros it is a familiar story on Castro Street or any queer mecca.

[rlmorel]

Sigh. I find that sad. There is a bit of a cautionary tale in that history you related there.

I have always felt that we as humans have to work to keep our baser instincts at bay, and influences such as a structured society, belief in God, the institutions of marriage and family and such keep us on the narrow path, which requires our constant effort and vigilance to keep from straying.

Once we stray off the path, it is easier to stray even further, which brings us into areas we should not go. Brutality to our fellow man in crime and violence, general lawbreaking, deviant behavior, and generally risky behavior to ourselves. Eventually people can stray so far off that path the abnormal behavior becomes normalized...which is bad for everyone.

I would think being a closeted homosexual would induce a great deal of internal dissension in a person, but I believe that on the whole, socially normalizing behavior that internally we all know deep inside is unnatural and wrong creates a huge amount of cognitive dissonance in people who fully embrace something that, deep down in their heart of hearts, they cannot shake the feeling that it is wrong (even at an unconscious level)

I think we do a great disservice to these people by normalizing homosexuality, and I have always felt that it shows up in the higher levels in the homosexual community of depression, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, antisocial behavior, and other generally self-destructive behaviors.

That description of Harvey Milk’s journey is not at all surprising.

Once the barriers of God, Marriage, and Societal Norms are removed, it frees people to plumb the depths of the human interior, and I believe that can be a very dark place that leaves a mark on those who see it.

And we as a society are trying to give people of all mental stripes free reign to descend and explore those depths. I don’t believe those behaviors to be criminal, but I believe to remove all barriers to them is destructive, especially to people who aren’t equipped to look inside themselves and deal with it.