This brings me to one of the essential goals which we as the homosexual

minority must gain before we can hope to assist those of our group who fail to make the grade as whole, normal homosexual human beings. That need is to discover within our ranks individuals whom we can admire for their good qualities. as homosexuals, and not in spite of their homosexuality. This is a basic distinction. For want of a better phrase, I would designate such a person a "minority hero" in the sense employed by the European sociologists Max Weber and George Simmel. We have a tendency to laugh at the idea of heroes these days. Heroes come with boxtops this year, and a proper, modern hero employs publicity agents and gets a crack at a cigarette endorsement. But it is not these pulp paper heroes we homosexuals need; we can get that variety at a dime a dozen in any physique magazine. We need the person who has had such courage and ability in facing up to the realities of himself that he can afford to be concerned with the welfare of others. Such a person can serve as a support and an example to those who have never met him. The boy in the park is a study in personal disintegration, not far removed from the wards of a mental hospital. He has never learned that it is possible for persons with the same basic orientation as his to achieve a selfmastery that lets their outlook stretch far beyond the search for gross sexual satisfaction or even the effort to hold down a job. In the heterosexual mind, no homosexual would help another unless he were hoping to get some sexual benefit in return. It is about time that homosexuals themselves, at any rate, get away from such a damning concept.

Who, one may well ask, is potentially a "minority hero?" It is easier to suggest those who would not fill the role. The sexual athlete, the male Cleopatra, would not qualify. Neither would the bi-sexual whose chief distinction is that he marries, has children, and hides his identity by never, never appearing in public with homosexual friends. Nor can we choose the man who has reduced his entire existence to the simple terms of a hasty, single-minded pilgrimage from one lumpy mattress to another. These people may be in equilibrium and therefore "well-adjusted" in the current psychoanalytic sense. They may enjoy the type of public acceptance one may achieve by never making an issue of his homosexuality. But they are of no help to those of us who find it most difficult to find a sense of worth as members of the homosexual brotherhood. Who can help, then? The best present answer I can give is to mention a few individuals who produce evidence that heroism runs naturally in their veins. There is, for instance, the man who stood up in court and stated that he was a homosexual, without fear or apology, and challenged the court to find in this anything intrinsically or morally wrong. There is the fellow who appeared on a television program about the homosexual "problem" because he hoped that his example might help other homosexuals understand themselves. He knew he would lose his job and some of his friends, but he did not hesitate. There is the man who became implicated with a fellow-worker because of the accusations of a third (ironically homosexual also and jealous) who managed to shift the entire blame onto himself so as to spare his friend. These are men who deserve our admiration. They have sufficient fortitude and a sense of responsibility to their own people to step forward when the times require it.

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