Madam, - Joe Patton writes (December 28) that Niall Crowley of the Equality Authority is involved in some kind of "game" because he avoids using the word "homosexual" when writing in defence of homosexual rights. He notes that Mr Crowley uses "gay" or "same-sex" instead of "homosexual", but when referring to opposite-sex relationships he does not hesitate to say "heterosexual". He suggests that Mr Crowley is unable or unwilling to speak plainly.
May I suggest that Mr Crowley may be aware of the negative connotation that has long been attached to the word homosexual, and that when possible, people of goodwill will try to avoid using words which, however correct, may display insensitivity in their use? Most people will avoid the use of the word "negro", for example, preferring to use "black", "coloured", "African American", etc.
This is because people of African origin were abused under the terms "negro" and while it is technically correct to use the word, it must be asked why a person would insist on doing so. Mr Patton further objects that "any expression of dissent about the propriety of homosexuality is met with accusations of homophobia". To prove that he is not homophobic he tells us that many of his favourite actors were homosexual - Dirk Bogard, Sir John Gielgud, and many others. He even tells us he had a homosexual "phase" that lasted about a month when he was a teenager. This, indeed, should convince anyone of his present maturity - if it were not for his expression "the propriety of homosexuality". One would not speak of "the propriety of heterosexuality". Propriety has nothing to do with sexual orientation, but with out manner of expressing it. Mr Patton is suggesting that some kind of impropriety is self-evident in homosexual relationships. He can admire his homosexual actors on screen, but off screen, as real people, they are of questionable propriety if they engage in loving relationships. This, like it or not, is what a phobia is: the inability to control an irrational discomfort about something which does not threaten to harm one.
People who suffer from homophobia usually call on the support of other sufferers; biblical writers and popes are the favourites, but anybody in authority will do, so long as they can lend an imagined moral or intellectual weight to the justification of their phobia.
Mr Crowley of the Equality Authority is to be commended for his sensitive use of language. He could have been more "correct" in his use of words, but then he might have lacked propriety. - Yours, etc,
DECLAN KELLY, Christchurch, Dublin 8.