I HAVE been told that I am sick. I need treatment for a mental condition called a phobia.

The diagnosis is made each time I suggest that it is unnatural for men to have sex with men (and women with women).

Occasionally, I meet similarly afflicted people and we quietly form our own support group. Not in public, of course. That would not be correct.

In private, we shake our heads in unison: no, men are not physically designed to make love to men; yes, women heavy-petting each other does sound rather forlorn and sad.

We risk a tut-tut, now that the Government encourages our male children to have sex with other male children (and even with men). We pledge jointly to petition the House of Lords to keep up the fight.

Some in our group say it's a sin. Most just feel the whole thing's kinky.

We're told that it's in our genes so it must be natural. But so is kleptomania, rape, violence and murder. So, too, is cancer, and none of these is judged acceptable.

Homosexuality, we are assured by those in showbiz, the arts, the media and politics is normal. Yet I look up and down my Accrington street and it does not seem so.

Opinion polls tell me that I could find recruits for our support group in nine out of 10 homes in the street. Not publicly, of course. There is that fear of others knowing about our phobic condition. I have gone public about my 'illness' in the hope of encouraging others. Anybody else like to come out?

REV KEVIN LOGAN, Christ Church Vicarage, Bentcliffe Gardens, Accrington.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.