Reply #8: When you consider the fate of Clarke's contemporary Alan Turing ("known homosexual") ...

[Laughing Mirror]

It gives you a better understanding of maybe why Clarke chose to move far away from Merry Ole England and keep the door to his closet closed shut.

http://www.lambda.net/~maximum/turing.html

Alan Turing the Security Risk

Throughout his professional career, Turing was a "known homosexual". He was put under surveillance at Manchester University because it was believed that his homosexuality made him a security risk. In the early half of the 1950's, McCarthyism (named for Sen. Joseph McCarthy - R. Wisconsin) was in full bloom in America. The loyalties of government officials and careers were ruined in a political campaign that would mark one of the ugliest chapters in the nation's history. The witch hunts crossed national boundaries. America pressured the British government to rid their intelligence establishment of security risks - including homosexuals.

The Persecution of Alan Turing

In 1952, Turing's home was burglarized by a friend of a man with whom he was having an affair. Refusing to be intimidated, he reported the crime. During the investigation, he did not hide his homosexuality from the police. He was labeled a pervert and was charged with gross indecency. He agreed to submit to hormone treatments rather than go to prison. He was injected with the female hormone estrogen. It was believed that estrogen injections were useful in curbing sexual urges.

The stress and humiliation of his treatment at the hands of the government that he served loyally throughout his life led to his mental deterioration. Alan Mathison Turing committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cyanide in 1954. He was 41 years old.