friends and associates.

A thousand forces have had a part in shaping me not only in regard to my homosexuality but also in respect to others of my qualities. Society is undoubtedly one of these forces. But society is not something apart from and opposed to my hopes, strivings and desperations or yours. We each have a part, unidentifiable perhaps, but a part nevertheless, in shaping our society. If I refrain from casting my vote against what I believe is untenable in our Society, I am doing it and myself a great injustice. The vote is in and the administration is heterosexual. But the other parties are not going to sit back and wait to be elected, nor will they abandon their ideals.

Science understands some of the forces you mention. Science also misunderstands some of them. Many truths masquerade as superstitions, and some "superstitions" are true. Science is NOT infallible, and just because. a scientist asserts a fact it is not necessarily true. Don't misunderstand me. I have a hearty respect for science. I am, indeed, a scientist in my work. But I am also aware of the limitations of science.

The doctor I went to knows a lot of unhappy heterosexuals, too. I am homosexual and reasonably happy. I know other happy homosexuals. We are. not ALL unhappy, although most of us have been at some time or another. Our unhappiness was our misunderstanding about ourselves and our loneliness, our alienation from ourselves. Many of us have learned to accept ourselves without feelings of shame, degradation and guilt. Like one reader of this magazine, we are willing to "stand up and be counted." Only, however, when it is not going to hurt those who are dear to us. It was only after this. happened to me that I was able to sustain sincere friendships with those of the opposite sex. You can't accept others lovingly until you accept yourself with love.

I am glad you refrained from allowing your passion to drive you toward me in public rest rooms, theaters and on the street. I should have sharply rejected you and, perhaps, hurt you. I don't spell my life "s-e-x"; I spell it "1-o-v-e." I love my work. I love my friends. I love my companion. I love my parents. I love to eat. I love to sleep. I love to be awake. I love to think things out my own way. I love all these things and one is as important as the other. Our search is difficult. But I refuse to admit that it is futile.

A Friend of Joe.

"When love beckons to you, follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the

north wind lays waste the garden.

"For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth, so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

"All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart."

(An excerpt from "The Prophet," by Kahlil Gibran, appended to the above letter, and here quoted in part by request.)

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