The Married Homosexual Man

Book excerpt: ‘All that is left is to pretend. But to pretend to the end of one’s life is the highest torment.’ So wrote the composer Peter Tchaikovsky following his marriage to his student, Antonina Milyukov, 1877. How common is such a conclusion today amongst males with homosexual tendencies and who have married women? Why homosexuals marry women, and the consequences, are open questions to which this book, originally published in 1983, addresses itself. Despite a recent increase in publications on homosexuality at the time, there was very little available on the married homosexual man, and this study was particularly welcome in that it provided information and conclusions which would assist both the lay person and the helping professional to a better understanding. Michael Ross describes the social pressures which affect homosexuals, and looks at the effects of living in a contradictory life-style. He looks at the heterosexually-married homosexual man in terms of his reasons for his marriage, the problems he finds in his marriage, and some of the adjustments and adaptations he makes in response to the pressures from family and society. The socio-psychological profile of the married homosexual which is provided here explains both the mechanisms by which homosexuals deal with societal pressures and the problems and perspectives of the married homosexual. This book is a re-issue originally published in 1983. The language used is a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication.