READERS on Writers

I READ!

The article "I am Glad I am Homosexual" by Hollister Barnes (August, 1958) brought several lengthy and outspoken replies. Excerpts from some of the more interesting ones follow, to form another of our series under the above heading.

Miss R. of Los Angeles writes: I wish to compliment you on the stimulating August issue of ONE.

The lead article "I am Glad I am Homosexual," by Mr. Hollister Barnes leaves me with a sense of tired repulsion and a feeling that the man does not quite know what he is talking about.

It is one thing to defend the homosexual's right to live, to be himself, to champion his heroes . . . his great ones who have made all humanity richer for their courage and nobility of thought and action, to seek a rightful and useful place in society for us. It is quite another to attempt to do all this at the expense of the heterosexual's right to be himself; to heap calumny, insult and scorn upon those institutions which though they may not have understood us to date are nevertheless essential to the survival and future of mankind.

Does Mr. Barnes want a place for us in society or does he desire to blast us further from the understanding and acceptance of society than we have been heretofore? Mr. Barnes seems to revel in his irresponsibility to society. If we are irresponsible to society (as society has long charged) what right have we to expect society to be responsible to us?

It is not hard to imagine, nor pleasant to consider the reaction of the average Joe Doaks, struggling to maintain his family, should he accidentally stumble on Mr. Barnes' article. Where are these millions on the march he speaks of? I'm glad it's not true in the sense he speaks it, though I hope someday it may be true in a quiet, unassuming way. However, I hate to see such a falsehood printed to scare good heterosexual folk to death, not to mention our own good homosexual folk who were just beginning to take heart in the constructive work the homophile publications have been doing toward understanding, acceptance, integration.

Mr. Barnes appears to want more than just the right to be himself, to live his own life peacefully and well. He has to consider himself and his kind superior to the whole human race, else he cannot stand his condition. This is a dangerous attitude.

A truly superior being is about the last person to say so. While others extol his virtues, he can only see where he has fallen short of his ideal and how much further he has to go. He is tolerant of and kind to others' shortcomings and seeks understanding always.

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