March 15, 1953

Mr. Paul V. Coates THE MIRROR

145 S. Spring, Los Angeles, Calif.

Dear Mr. Coates:

We should like to take this opportunity to thank you for your article of Thursday, March 12th, concerning the Mattachine Foundation. The questions you asked deserve answers, and we hope we can give them satisfactorily here. Miss Romayne Cox is on indefinite leave from the Foundation because of other demands on her time. She has tendered her resignatoin, but the trustees of the Foundation have not, as yet, had chance to act upon this and choose her successor. In the absence of Miss Cox any qualified person who would like to examine the accounts of the corporation could do so by arrangement with our attorney.

Since you also question our corporate status, this could have been resolved by a telephone call to Mr. Snider; in the absence of this telephone call may we mention that under California law any corporation meeting the requirements may function as a corporation from the date of having its papers filed at Sacramento. Our papers were filed about eight months ago, but there will be a further lapse of time (it is usually about a year) before we have the corporate seal.

You mentioned, also, that Mr. Snider was an unfriendly witness at the UnAmerican Activities Committee hearing. Possibly a non-political organization such as ours should have chosen more tactfully among the local attorneys. Our needs, however, seem to be more properly answered by an attorney who is not only an excellent corporation advisor, but one who, in the possible legal need of the possible sex-violator could be counted on not to suggest "copping a plea", but to honestly fight such a case where entrapment was an issue.

It is the purpose of the Foundation to turn as much light on the homosexual as possible. If his intentions are criminal (in the social sense of that word), let that be exposed; but if the possibility exists that society's treatment of him is criminal, let that be known also.

Very cordially yours,

THE MATTACHINE FOUNDATION, INC.

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