suppression or elimination of homosexuals." There seems no valid basis for such separate treatment of homosexuals, he said, and due process is violated unless a rational aim of society is pursued by rational ends. He mentioned a case on which he'd worked defending a woman's rights to the pursuit of happiness (a right seldom laid claim to in the courts) after a court had in effect ordered her to stop having illegitimate" children.

Artemis Smith of New York, authoress of THE THIRD SEX and ODD GIRL then spoke briefly on the experiences of a writer in this field. She said that publishers had been reluctant to touch the Lesbian theme a few years ago, but now insisted that novels she did on other subjects be heavily loaded with this.

The chairman at this point called on observers from the San Francisco police dept. to say a few words. They didn't!

The high point of the day was the confrontation of Sidney Feinberg, area administrator of the California Alcoholic Beverage Control Dept., by Atty. Morris Lowenthal with a largely homosexual audience. Mr. Feinberg, a tall man of imposing appearance, and dramatic, tablebanging habits, explained the history, as he saw it, of the A.B.C., set up in 1954 to regulate alcoholic beverages from the point of production to the point of consumption. He said it was the aim of the A.B.C. "to see that every licensee (bar owner) is of high moral character." This was to be accomplished primarily by close supervision of the premises, and lifting the license whenever infractions occurred. He said that the A.B.C. was not much interested in policing the patrons as such, and that it had no quarrel with the Supreme Court (which had clipped

its wings). He insisted that so-called gay bars were given the same treatment accorded to heterosexual bars, but admitted that agents spent more time supervising gay bars than others. "No bar patronized by homosexuals will be prosecuted simply because of those patrons," he said, except "where acts of disorder or acts that are offensive occur.'

At this point, Mr. Feinberg asked the audience for their opinions, and there was some heated exchange over the definition of offensive acts. The audience did not entirely agree on the "offensiveness" of such acts as women dancing together, or even men kissing one another in a gay bar, or even of women wearing "mannish" clothes. Mr. Lowenthal, author of the Briefs which appear in the #8 Quarterly, (see ONE, Mar. 59) then gave a somewhat different history of the A.B.C.'s vendetta against the gay bars, and Mr. Feinberg, visibly irritated, pounded the table several times and loudly demanded rebuttal time. It was an exciting performance, and perhaps. the first time in America that an American homosexual audience had talked back to one of the men who was making life rough for them.

A clever skit followed, lampooning the practice of the edict that "homosexuals cannot be reasonably held to a higher standard of public behavior than heterosexuals."

The evening banquet featured some entertaining emceeing by Dr. Vera Plunkett, a rollicking bit of free legal advice from attorney Ken Zwerin, and a lively performance of gay folksongs by Lisa Ben. Awards were presented to several males, for services rendered to the D.O.B., making them honorary Sons of Bilitis (S.O.B.).

Congratulations to the girls! It was a fine job!