bars here. We had a nice place where the Gays could dance with other Gays and the police closed it on grounds of obscenity. The others were just forced out of business oneby-one and two-by-two.

The rest of the kids are back out on the streets, which hasn't been going on for nearly six years. We had places to go and we went. We gladly abandoned the streets, the parks, the museums and such. We had places we could go.

The idea, I understand, is to force the Gay people out onto the streets so they can be picked up for loitering, vagrancy, public display of homosexuality, etc. I certainly intend to fight the police and the courts with all I have to fight with, in the legal sense. And why not? What in the hell would I lose? My name would be plastered in the papers and I would automatically lose my job, so why not fight back?

Dear People:

Mr. S.

New Orleans, La.

This evening I glanced at the newsstand as I bought my evening paper and there, clipped among the physique magazines, was the current issue of ONE. I returned a few hours later when the homeward crowd had thinned. Without a word, the dealer gave me a folded issue of the late edition. I knew that when I unfolded the newspaper in my room I would find ONE inside.

And so it has been ever since, a year ago, I first became aware of the Magazine and with a studied casualness scanned through many magazines. Finally in desperation I picked up two or three and snatched a copy of ONE, threw a dollar bill in the direction of the dealer and hurried away.

I slowly read it from cover to cover, returning again and again to the lines which brought me a sense of encouraging "oneness" with the spirit of others like myself.

There have been many occasions when I threw it to the floor unsatisfied, discouraged by the seeming apartness even from those of my own nature. And there were many, many times when I found a kindred spirit who spoke to me. It is a comfort, cold though it may be, to know how many of us there are in the United States. How encouraging to hold in one's hand the visible, tangible evidence that somewhere, someplace there are the few who have the courage and the devotion to face public disapprobation and to reach out with understanding hands to bring solace to the rejected.

In my deeply ingrained pessimism I fear that most of us will never attain peace within ourselves or achieve a positive, realistic solution to our greatest personal needs: Freedom from fear; the right to love; most of all, the right to worship. I want to come and go as I

am. To live proud and free, without smiles. and smirks, without compassion from family and friends, without subterfuge and masks. I do not want to accept excuses from anyone or any group, even my own. I want to love, because it is my nature to love deeply. I want to live close to God and in harmony with His ministers and His church. (Already I see the condescending smiles and hear the cynical. asides!)

It would seem that among all His servants there must be somewhere the priest, the rabbi, the minister whom He has enlightened and to whom He has given the charge to guide us on our way. We are but men and women, with the same inherent strengths and weaknesses of all men and women. Surely God does not keep His church only for saints.

I have tried to stifle my inclinations, abjure my nature, and I have prayed, but I have not changed. What then must I do? Abandon my soul? Must I sit in a dark corner of the church apart from Him? Must I be left outside?

Thank you for all you have done. Your hope and courage are contagious and have brought me a measure of encouragement and selfacceptance. With all sincerity, and with all my heart, may God bless you and keep you -editors, writers and readers.

Dear ONE:

Mr. L.

New York, N.Y.

I received your Magazine over here and enjoyed it very much. I found out a lot of things I didn't know about homosexual people. Of all the stories the best one was "Fata Morgana (April, 1960), because it told exactly what happens to the Gay and had feeling in it too. Being overseas a person doesn't meet many people like himself.

Pvt. X. A.P.O., U.S.A.

PROMOTION DEPARTMENT

Dear Friends:

Reading on the bus, after attending class at ONE Institute, I had a pleasant surprise, one which should give you some free advertising. I found ONE mentioned in TIME (December 5 issue) in the story about Norman Mailer.

Dear ONE:

Mr. L.

Los Angeles, Calif.

Did the line about ONE in TIME raise any wind?

EDITOR'S REPLY

Dear Inquirers:

Mr. P. Grand Rapids, Mich.

The answer is no. We think all publications (except ONE) are much over-rated.