inferences drawn therefrom. And a few homosexuals have begun to associate themselves publicly as citizens concerned with improving their condition.

Their enemies have also been emboldened. Ex-Mayor Aronovitz of Miami devoted himself to a hysterical campaign to rid the city of "perverts" and tried to remove other officials who urged moderation.

Newsmen and politicians, along with the irresponsible producers of the proliferating smut-and-slander magazines are finding the "homosexual menace" a hot topic. The Senator from Wisconsin (who was himself accused of homosexuality by one. publisher) began his smear of the State Department by attacking homosexuals in the Dept. Another late Senator committed suicide reputedly when "pressures" were brought on him regarding his son's morals arrest. Minneapolis, Cape Cod, Charlotte, San Jose, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Pittsburgh and Washington, D. C. have had recent homosexual witch hunts. Boise, Idaho, is now involved in such a furore, with the IDAHO STATESMAN howling "Root out this scourge, as if homosexuality was new or exclusive to Idaho.

Arrests of homosexuals, with regular use of questionable police methods, is common practice in most parts of the country. Laws dealing with homosexuals are so worded as to ignore many considerations of "due process. The inept California Lewd Vagrancy Statute, Statute, (like similar laws in many states) despite recent clarification of a few points, is so worded that "a certain character trait" becomes a criminal offense, so that it is unnecessary in court that a specific act be proved. Search of homes of suspected homosexuals without warrant and seizure of address books and correspondence have been common police practice. "Vice" officers regularly entice citizens into compromising positions to make an arrest. Nor is it rare to hear of vice officers suggesting to their victim that charges can be dropped for a suitable amount of cash. In Pittsburgh, 1954, the entire vice squad was indicted on shakedown charges, and it was indicated that many of the victims were men who, not necessarily homosexual, had merely appeared to rise to the proferred bait. Certainly this goes beyond normally required police action for the protection of society.

There are many homosexual types who ought naturally come under police surveillance: so-called "hustlers" who use their homosexuality for theft, blackmail and violence, many juvenile and other male prostitutes, and those who may legitimately be classed as dangerous psychopaths. But these are no more representative of homosexuals generally than rapists are of Negroes or Communist saboteurs are of liberals.

The general persecution of homosexuals has had its most unsavory result in the restriction of the sort of places where homosexuals may gather to the more anti-social conditions and environments, and in constant harrassment of even such places. (Courts have at times disapproved of this practice.) Thus even in the cheap bars and other gathering places, there is the

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