the male who makes and enforces our laws. It is, perhaps, the heterosexual male's pride in his long-held position of superiority and authority over women, and his terror of losing it, which causes his sense of outrage and his utter ruthlessness in dealing with the male homosexual while at the same time being able to look upon female homosexuality with a kind of contemptuous tolerance-as just another of the countless female foibles which defy explanation. For, like it or not, he has no choice but to identify himself with all men, and the idea of a "womanly" man, especially in the all-important realm of sex, strikes terror to his heart. (Today you tomorrow me?) And man is never more blindly cruel than when he is afraid.

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nyone who has had more than a very limited contact with lesbians and male homosexuals in normal, everyday living (as opposed to psychiatrists and law enforcement personnel whose contact is limited to the sick, the anti-social and the criminal element and is therefore not typical) is struck by the difference in the personality and outlook of the average lesbian as compared to the average male homosexual. There are bitter, cynical, vindictive lesbians, to be sure, but they are far fewer in proportion to their numbers than is the case among male homosexuals. In view of what has been stated in the above paragraphs, it should. be obvious at once why this is so, for an individual's anti-social behavior and outlook increases in direct proportion to the degree of his persecution. A man does not single out one facet of his tormentor to hate, he hates everything about him, the good along with the bad, and when that tormentor is society as a whole, anti-social views and behavior of many and varied kinds is the logical result. Because the lesbian is not tormented and persecuted in a manner even remotely approaching the continuous hounding accorded the male homosexual, she is able to maintain a reasonably normal respect for society as a whole. Whatever bitterness and resentment she feels is likely to be focused on the social prejudice against homosexuals alone and it does not distort her whole viewpoint of society. So long as she is let alone (and to a large extent she is), she is willing to go along with the rest of society's demand, but quite often the male homosexual has become so embittered by the cruel and unjust treatment he has received at the hands of society, he has nothing but contempt for any of its laws and values. He cannot be altogether blamed for this, but so long as he allows his anti-social behavior and his cynical resignation to color his whole personality and govern all phases of his life, he is only tightening the vicious circle in which he finds himself.

For the lesbian and the male homosexual alike—our only hope for freedom and justice, our only chance to gain the respect of the public, lies in making society realize that it has nothing to fear from us. And we will never make the heterosexual world fear us less by publicly confirming all the worst it has ever heard about us. Society cannot be dictated to, nor can it be reasoned with so long as it is afraid-but it can be educated. Education is a long, slow process, particularly for the student who fights against learning the truth every step of the way, but with time and patience and the right kind of teaching, it is inevitable that he must learn in spite of himself. That reluctant student is society, and we are the only qualified teachers.

Let's do a good job of it.

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-Marlin Prentiss

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