HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE

Dear Editor:

The article (December, 1959) is a welldefined and constructive essay on the subject worth serious consideration by any gay person, whether "married" or "single."

I am married to a man who had been "playing the field" for fourteen years, searching for some form of lasting happiness and security. For him gay life has had its moments of pleasure and satisfaction in a onenight stand, a weekend, or a more prolonged period. But then the filmy bubble broke all too soon, for unless there is a full, rich love and desire between two people, linked with a firm determination to live and love for a lifetime together, both of them will find heartbreak after heartbreak with each new trick.

The mental strain of such continued disappointments and the psychological depression caused by this constant frustration could result in very destructive and damaging marks upon the personality.

My friend and I began going together and finally took a ten-day trip to the East. Until that excursion we both had a great fondness and respect for each other, but as the days counted off when we would have to return home, we knew we were both very much in love. What before had simply been companionship swelled into a state of devotion and love toward each other.

To be sure, we've had our ups and downs, but both of us emphatically echo Jim Egan's closing remarks, which spell out one of the most important requisites for a successful marriage: "both must want to be together more than anything else in life and be determined to remain together in spite of any opposition from any source."

Dear Friends:

Mr. K. Chicago, III.

A survey made by the national Sunday Supplement PARADE of about two thousand men and two thousand women revealed that only one out of every two men would remarry the same woman and only one out of every three women would remarry the same man!

If one out of every two men and one out of every three women among our married friends are unhappily married are we so different from our so-called normal brothers and sisters?

Have you ever read the story by Hans Christian Anderson about the king who was swindled by his tailors into thinking he had on a fine outfit when actually he was naked? None of his subjects dared admit they couldn't see the supposed robes until a little child

one

spoke up and set off a chain-reaction of confessions.

Dear ONE:

Miss V. Pasadena, Calif.

We especially liked the article on homosexual marriage, having ourselves experienced many of the situations described and having finally found the answer to true happiness. We agree completely with Jim Egan.

We have been friends for about eight years. Until recently we lived in the country but have now moved into an apartment house in town. We know many homosexuals, some single and some married, but are very particular which ones we choose for close friends. We also know many "straight" couples and are accepted by most. We entertain both heterosexuals and homosexuals and sometimes mixed crowds of both, but with everything always very circumspect.

This is the first time we have written you. We owe a lot to ONE, as it has helped us so much so that we now have a wonderful home of our own.

Dear Sir:

Mr. C. & Mr. P. Sheridan, Wyo.

The question is, "should we pick up the remnants of a system the heterosexual is casting off?" The idea of homosexual marriages has been discussed romantically before. Some have tried it with success. Others have failed. What holds a husband and wife together is not merely sex but love and the sacramental character of the married state.

Some of the young married men I know have been unfaithful because their wives refused to indulge in acts they thought were immoral. Such limitations have led them to seek variety with other women, or with men.

Would it be any different with the homosexual married couple? Let us not idealize the fidelity and loyalty of homosexuals beyond reality. For too many homosexuals the wish for stability, fidelity and loyalty is in the mind only. Unfaithfulness in marriage is not peculiar to heterosexuals only. It is a failing of the human race.

The question is not "should we pick up the remnants," but "CAN WE"?

Mr. H.

Newark, N. J.

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