Sexual Preference (Press, 23 September 1985)

In a letter to the editor dated 16 September 1985, Varian J. Wilson expressed his support for Professor Ney, who had faced disapproval from colleagues. Wilson accused others of using his name without permission to damage his reputation. He stated that he was withdrawing his active opposition to law reform, as the situation had changed. However, he maintained his belief that no medical professional could provide evidence indicating that sexual preference is established before a child reaches school age, questioning the idea of consent at just four years old. Wilson asserted that there is no known medical or biological basis for what he referred to as homosexual perversion, and he argued that psychological tests, including the Rorschach ink-blot test, are unable to differentiate homosexual individuals from heterosexual ones. He pointed out that even basic distinctions between male and female responses could not be reliably identified through such tests. While he acknowledged that schizophrenia can manifest early in life, he highlighted that only individuals exhibiting socially unacceptable behaviour are typically confined for their condition. Wilson suggested that similar considerations regarding degrees of homosexual compulsion are often overshadowed by religious and traditional biases, leading to an exclusion from the mental health discourse.

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