Most homosexuals are NOT insane, stupid, wilfully perverted, unnatural or socially incompetent as is often believed,' he said.
''The fact is that most homosexuals can and do lead useful and productive lives... But homosexuals as such, have only limited social and civil rights... This is why a group of responsible, socially conscious citizens, including many who are not themselves homosexuals, has formed the Mattachine Society. Its purpose is to encourage medical and social research pertaining to socio-sexual behavior and to publish the results of such research. It sponsors educational programs to aid social and emotional variants and seeks to promote among the general public an understanding of the problems of such persons . . . It seeks to help develop social and moral responsibility in those persons whose hehavior may vary from accepted present-day standards...'
That story in the POST also gave the post office box (7035, Capitol Hill Station, Denver 6) and the phone number of the Denver branch of the Society. As a result, several new people contacted the Society during and after the convention. Several other stories in both Denver papers accurately reported the activities of the convention and the purposes of the society-with a complete absence of the nasty little twists most publications put in when saying anything at all about the subject of homosexuality.
Sixty persons attended the reception in the Mural room of the Albany Friday night and were decked out with name tags-and remarkably few used pseudonyms. Many of the Denverites were gotten up fetchingly in fancy Western duds-this all being related to the city's centennial celebrations this year.
Saturday morning Donald S.
Lucas, secretary general of the Society, reported on the state of membership. Slightly over half (97) of the active members of the Society were in the San Francisco area, with 91 scattered between New York, Denver, Detroit, Boston, Phoenix, Chicago, Washington and Los Angeles, with the latter two groups temporarily dormant. There are also 86 subscribing members and a few in other categories such as Honorary Members. Mr. Lucas emphasized that the Society was neither a lonelyhearts club, nor a social club.
Reports from chairmen of the various areas followed. The Boston delegate referred to Provincetown as the first town in the U. S. to openly accept homosexuality. The Denver chairman mentioned the general response to convention arrangements. Of 112 persons invited to speak, only three (psychiatrists all) flatly refused, and one insultingly. The Detroit delegate urged the need for more careful standards for active membership. The New York chair-. man mentioned having gotten nearly 100 dollar-a-month pledges. for the Area Council treasury. The San Francisco chairman announced Hal Call's appearance on a forthcoming B.B.C.-T.V. documentary with leading British literary critic, Ken Tynan, in a study of non-conformist groups in America. References were made to new homophile groups or groups studying deviant sexual problems in Washington, D. C., and Nassau County, N. Y.
At lunch, Russian-born Denver psychiatrist, Leo V. Tepley, M.D., spoke most charmingly on psychological aspects of homosexuality. "Wouldn't life be intolerable if all men's experiences were fully rational?" he asked. He noted that deviates have a high order of sensitivity.
An afternoon panel examined
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