Thinking against the grain. (last word).

I guess it was predictable, given the climate of the times. When German historian Lothar Machtan published a book in October theorizing that Adolf Hitler was homosexual, gay reviewers immediately reached for their poison pens. One called the very publication of The Hidden Hitler "chilling" because of its offensive subject matter. Another not only dismissed the book's thesis but dissed the author's motivations as "more commercial than scholarly." The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation even blasted NBC's Today show as "offensive and irresponsible" for deciding to "splash Hitler's theoretical homosexuality across Today as our community's most prominent current issue," especially when NBC had not identified several heroes of September 11 as gay.

And those were the nice reactions. People in gay Internet discussion groups pulled out all the stops, calling the author a "crackpot," a "liar," and a "homophobe." Many of these online critics said they hadn't read the book and didn't intend to.

Well, after all the Sturm und Drang, I read it myself, and guess what? It's an impressively researched and fascinating study that raises provocative questions on a score of subjects. In fact, I'm more troubled by our knee-jerk reaction to the book than by the book itself.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not convinced that Hitler was gay. But Machtan has collected a broad body of evidence that suggests Hitler had a history of youthful same-sex relationships and then spent years fending off blackmailers as he clawed and murdered his way to power. It also suggests that some of Hitler's actions stemmed, in part, from his desire to eliminate anybody who had knowledge of his homo history. Machtan throws a new light on everything from Hitler's liquidation of Ernst Rohm's storm troops to the Nazis' destruction of Magnus Hirschfeld's fledgling gay rights movement to the tragic roundup and murder of thou sands of German gays in the camps.

This is chilling, provocative stuff. The idea that gay liberation, which was born in Germany, was snuffed out and set back half a century by a closet case Wagnerian opera queen afraid of being outed really boggles the brain. So why did so many gay critics blast the book instead of pondering its implications?

The simple answer is fear that if Hitler was gay, it's one more black mark against all gay people. But the operative word in that equation is simple. Machtan's thesis never argues that Hitler was evil because he was homosexual. It suggests instead that Hitler might have done some of the evil things he did to homosexuals for fear of exposure. Sound familiar? In any case, if scholars find Machtan's thesis plausible, we're hardly going to score points by denial and by assassinating the character of the author.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of that floating around these days. Every time some study offends us (biological studies of sexual orientation, studies of rising HIV transmission, you name it) a chorus of gay voices attacks not only the study but its authors. These fear-based reactions undermine the very pillars of intellectual openness our movement is based on. They reek of know-nottfingism--no small matter in today's climate.

We arose as a movement by calling on people to open their minds to new interpretations of sexuality and history. We insisted that homosexuality be removed from the list of mental disorders because its inclusion was unwarranted by hard science. We insisted on openly discussing the sexuality of historical figures from Alexander the Great to Eleanor Roosevelt to Leonard Bernstein (and now George Frideric Handel and even Robin Hood). Our enemies fought this kind of inquiry tooth and nail. They still do. How often have we heard creeps like Jerry Falwell condemn a book they haven't read or movie they haven't seen because it offends their prejudices?

I don't know if Hitler was gay. Or, for that matter, if sexual orientation is biologically based or HIV rates are as high as studies say they are. But we should want to know. We should not be trying to hold back the flow of knowledge or ridiculing those who seek truth. Book burning is what our enemies do. Not us. I hope, anyway.