The date of the Whitman piece is uncertain. I attach a note I received from a friend. >From the MARK TWAIN ENCYCLOPEDIA, p. 792: "In an unfinished >essay written about 1888, "The Walt Whitman Controversy," >Twain grouped Wilde with Whitman and Swinburne as poets of >"new bad books," and said he owned none of their works." >--Wesley Britton. >Also: "Twain called on the Wildes in London in the late >1880s, signing Constance's autograph book. According to >Clara Clemens, Twain and Wilde met in a hotel in Bad >Nauheim, Germany." --ibid. My reading of the Whitman piece is that Clemens supported Whitman's work and freedom of speech. I found a reference in N&J3 on Whitman which indicates that SLC supported Whitman with a $20.00 donation in 1886 and sent him a copy of CY when it was published. I couldn't find any reference on SLC being in London in the late 1880's. I can't recall ever seeing anything from SLC's pen that would give us a clue as to how he felt about homosexuality. Paul Berkowitz