Early in March, 1956, in an equally historic decision on the part of ONE, its Corporation Members voted unanimously to continue the fight to the Supreme Court of the United States, the only Court remaining which can reverse the sustaining action of the Appellate Court for the Ninth Circuit.

To those of us who have already had the opportunity to study and interpret the decision of the Appellate Court, a number of significant points are in evidence:

1st: The specious language of the Court, on the bottom of page 3, stating that it is "only concerned with the proper application of a postal regulation, a prosaic and every day matter of the administration of the post office department," contrasted with expressions of general and flagrant prejudice found on pages 8 and 9, in referring to homosexuals as "a hardened or weakened minority," and, by implication, as "society's dregs," as a group of "moral delinquents" contrasting with the "great masses who trade ideas and information in the honest money of decency."

2nd: The failure of the Court to judge phrases, passages, and situations. presented in the homophile press ON A PARITY WITH similar phrases, passages and situations presented in the heterophile press, MERELY because, appearing in ONE, they appear in a homosexual context. The Court has said, in effect, that certain phrases, passages and situations in the October, 1954 issue of ONE are "obscene and filthy," NOT ipso facto, but BECAUSE homosexuality (and presumably the homosexual) is "obscene and filthy."

3rd: The repeated reference of the Court to a phrase from the Articles of Incorporation of ONE, Inc., referring to publishing "from the scientific, historical & critical point of view." The Court has conveniently ignored the word" primarily," which qualifies these aims of ONE Magazine, and precedes the first quotation in the original text. In doing this, it has obviously sought to impugn the motives of the publishers of ONE Magazine, and thus create an additional aura of prejudice and discredit to support their ruling. The Court has also, apparently, set itself up as the literary arbiter of writing which may be called " scientific, historical & critical."

ONE considers that the October, 1954 issue of its magazine falls entirely within the stated aims of its Corporation Charter, that this issue is not "obscene and filthy," or "cheap pornography" by any fair application of modern standards of publishing and obscenity, and that the grounds for its original action against the local Postmaster still remain.

It has not yet even been determined whether the highest and most respected Court in our land will hear ONE's complaint against the Post office Department. Appeal costs are heavy and the course is hazardous, but the issues at stake are enormous.

Is the homosexual, as such, to be granted equal status in America as "a segment of our people?" Will the homophile press be granted the same freedom to publish in the homosexual field as is now enjoyed by the nation's press as a whole? Will homosexuality come to be regarded as an accepted form of socio-sexual behavior? Can it be obliterated by legislation on the part of the same society in which its manifestations occur, and in which its seeds are nurtured?

Answers to these and other important socio-sexual questions hinge on the outcome of ONE's appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

Round IV

IV -

-15

is

ир

to you!