Gay Cosmos

Eighner, who was best known for his erotic fiction before leaping into mainstream consciousness with the acclaimed Travels with Lizbeth, has gathered a groundbreaking collection of his well-researched, illuminating essays. While the scope of Gay Cosmos concerns homosexuality, the book deserves the full attention of the general reader. This is a work that emphasizes the dignity of gays in society and provides a framework for inclusion, persuasively positing that all sexualities are natural and innate. Eighner argues that homosexuality has played an integral part in the traditional family and in society at large, but that the racism and homophobia of cultural anthropologists and behavioral scientists have led to poor scholarship. In ``Black Ganymede,'' for example, he rejects the notion that homosexuality was a European or Moslem import through a well-argued discussion of traditional African homosexuality; he observes that in many African cultures, a man may maintain a male lover, but since he is married he is considered heterosexual. It is Eighner's main contention that being gay is ``not an affliction that exceptional individuals can compensate for or overcome. It is a positive good, an adaptive trait, a desirable and necessary attribute of humanity.'' Essential and cogently argued, Gay Cosmos provides a much needed cultural and historical context for homosexuality. (July)