It is not license we want, but justice; it is the
cruelty and prejudice of convention which we wish to abolish--not
the proper and just indignation of society with crimes against
the social order. We want to make it possible for us to satisfy
our inborn instincts (which are not concerned essentially with
sexual acts, so called, alone) without thereby becoming
criminals. One of us who would, under any circumstances, seduce a
person of his own sex of immature age, and particularly one whose
sexual complexion was unknown, deserves the severe punishment
which would be meted out to a normal person who did the same to a
young girl--_but no more_; while, so long as no public offense is
given, there should be _no penalty or obloquy whatever_ attached
to sexual acts committed with full consent between mature
persons. These acts may or may not be wrong and immoral, just as
sexual acts between mature persons of different sexes may or may
not be wrong or immoral. But in neither case has the law any
concern; and public opinion should make no distinction between
the two.
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