http://collectedmiscellany.com/2003/11/an-interview-with-john-derbyshire/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1918063&forum_id=2#20413278)

Preface: I am strongly hostile to the hysterical approach to these matters, which unfortunately is the prevailing one at this time. We are all supposed to declare ourselves absolutely free of any negative feelings towards other groups whatsoever, or else we are EVIL! RACIST! HOMOPHOBIC! etc. etc.

Well, fiddlesticks. My model here is the British writer Sir Kingsley Amis.

An interviewer asked him whether he was antisemitic. Sir K replied: “Very,

very mildly.” Asled to explain, he said: “When I’m watching the credits

roll at the end of a TV program, I say to myself–’Oh, there’s another

one.’”

I grew up in England where that level of antisemitism was pretty well

universal. It was perfectly harmless. Jews thrived and prospered.

(Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet was full of them.) Negative feelings on that

level are, I believe, perfectly normal and healthy. I doubt any human being

is free of them. So long as the laws are firm–if you beat me up, you get

arrested for assault and battery, regardless of any group you or I might

belong to–and so long as public authorities do not practice favoritism in

state-supplied goods and benefits, I think people’s prejudices should be

left alone.

I do not support laws against private discrimination. If I do

not want to hire black people (or white people), that should be my right.

If I do not want to let a room in my house to a homosexual (or a

heterosexual, or a Muslim, or a Christian), that should also be my right.

These things are no proper business of the public authorities.

Homophobia: I described myself as “a mild, tolerant homophobe.” This means that I do not like homosexuality, and I think it is a net negative for

society. As a conservative, inclined to give the benefit of the doubt (when

there is doubt) to long-established practices, I cannot help note that there

has never been a human society, at any level of civilization, that has

approved egalitarian (that is, adult-adult) homosexuality. Male-male

buggery has been proscribed in every society that ever existed. I am

inclined to think that there are good reasons for these universal

prohibitions. To say the least of it, male homosexuality is very

unhealthy–much more so than, for example, cigarette smoking. A lot of the

people who howl “Homophobe!” at me whenever I write anything about this

topic are people who have to swallow a bucket of pills eight times a day

just to stay alive. Is it any wonder I have trouble taking them seriously?

Homosexuality both male and female is also antisocial, in a profound sense.

I do not believe that any stable society can be founded on any basis other

than heterosexual marriage. Under modern conditions, I think you would have

to add “monogamous,” too.

That’s the “homophobe” part. Now here’s the “mild, tolerant” part. I think

homosexuals should be left alone by the state. While I do not think, as I

have said above, that private discrimination against them (or any other

group) should be outlawed, I do not believe that homosexuality should be

criminalized. Where it currently is criminalized, I should like to see it

de-criminalized. I think homosexuals who are willing to give normal life a

try should be offered all possible encouragement and support, public and

private. Those who are determined to live as homosexuals, or who feel they

have no choice in the matter, should just be left alone. It goes without

saying–I hope–that I would like to see anyone found to have beaten up a

homosexual to be charged with assault and battery, and dealt with

accordingly.

Racism: All I mean there is that I believe that race is real, and

important. Nowadays, that makes you a “racist.” Again, I consider myself

mild and tolerant here–I don’t believe in any discrimination by public

authorities, and of course I am familiar with the awful historical record of

the United States in the matter of race slavery. I take individual people

as they come, as I believe every sane person does. I can imagine

circumstances where I would certainly practice private discrimination; but,

as I have said, I don’t see anything wrong with that.

http://collectedmiscellany.com/2003/11/derbyshire-interview-follow-up/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1918063&forum_id=2#20413282)