Ayn Rand, Homosexuality, and Human Liberation

REVIEWS

PATRICK QUEALY, LIBERTY 18, no. 2 (FEBRUARY 2004): 52.

Reclaiming Objectivism for Humanity

Quealy writes that Rand's Objectivism "continues to attract strong individualists who differ from the heterosexual norm.  Among the people Sciabarra interviews, ... [m]embers of the movement are more able than Rand to separate personal judgments of taste and value from rational judgments of moral and ethical behavior. ..."

For Quealy, "[t]he most fascinating part to me is the section 'Male Bonding in the Randian Novel,' in which Sciabarra and others describe Rand's view of 'love' between the men in her novels as confused, even self-contradictory.  I remember thinking when I read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, 'If this weren't Rand, I'd swear there were homoerotic overtones here.'  Apparently, others have had the same thought.  You might be surprised to read what Rand had to say about the relationship between Wynand and Roark. I certainly was!"

Criticizing "Rand's homophobia," Quealy concludes:  "To make moral pronouncements based on personal taste is contrary to the individualism that was Rand's signature personality trait and the cornerstone of her philosophy of life. ... Sciabarra calls for a new understanding of Objectivism that identifies sexuality as simply one more dimension of diversity that strong-minded individualists can celebrate."