The editors are shocked that P.E. is shocked. ONE, in giving space to both Jeff Winters and P.E.'s reaction to him, maintains its policy of allowing to be heard all who wish to speak. Mr. Winters' rebuttal is printed in this section. Incidentally, if the L. A. Mirror series is valid, Mr. Winters scooped them by 30 days.
The Editors:
Thank you for the opportunity to read and answer two of the letters commenting on my recent articles. The first, concerning Mr. Jorgensen, presented a view that I had never thought of in connection with the readers of ONE. It is not my impression that the magazine is published to flatter, sympathize with and give only direct encouragement to homosexuals. In fact, your stated purposes include getting this publication into as many homes as possible. To me, its sole purpose is the promotion of understanding of ourselves and of us by heterosexuals. The scope of this purpose is great enough to permit criticism, the very substance of growth. That even one intolerant reader is surprised that a dissenting opinion is given space alarms me with its suggestion that he or she wants only research that will reflect "positive" or sympathetic "facts" on the subject.
As for the celebrated Mr. Jorgensen, he is in the process of disgusting the entire world whether he wants to or not. The average person is not going to read his letter home ("Nature made the mistake which I have had corrected and now I am your daughter") then hear his doctors' statements that he was not hermaphroditic and that he was physically a normal male prior to surgery, without wondering if Mr. Jorgensen isn't either very neurotic or quite insane. Whether he sought publicity or not is irrelevant. Whether or not he is the heroic representative of all homosexuals is very much to the point. Exactly what his castration has proven, the nature of its "positive" aspects and how he has accomplished "much" for the minority is indeed subject for an article in any magazine, particularly ONE. I shall read every word of it twice when it appears. Until then I will be quite content to be a male attracted by males. I hope that Mr. MacDonald's letter deploring my historical ignorance stimulates others as much as it stimulated me. It is quite true that most of us are acutely unaware of our own limited knowledge on the subject. His letter implies a vast background bristling with endless data. I sincerely suggest he write a study of the homosexual's historical position in society. I, for one, would very much like to hear about all those things the deviate has contributed culturally which could come from no one else. It would be a great relief to me to find that I am actually not an ordinary person after all. I had thought I was just a second class citizen demanding his full civil rights and whose sexual inclinations were no more anyone's business that those of a heterosexual whose habits in bed are not questioned when he is stopped for speeding.
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Jeff Winters
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