By inviting us to “identify the particular needs of lesbians and gay men” the Health of the Nation Key Areas Handbook on Mental Illness touches on complex issues.1 For ours is a deeply homophobic society: gay men and lesbian women face prejudice at home, school, work and even in death.*RF 2-4* They are assaulted by their families2 and by strangers.5 The discrimination is pervasive: some is derived from statute law,6 black youngsters chant death threats at gay men in mimicry of a popular song,7 and in BMA News Review distributed to all general practitioners and BMA members, a doctor recently wrote: “Only a society flirting with self-destruction encourages such perversity and ruination. Under no circumstances ought homosexuality be regarded as anything other than a destructive habit system.”8 Similar prejudices were voiced by opponents of this week's parliamentary amendment …