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THE DOUGHTY DAUGHTERS

Time was when public conventions of homosexuals were unlikely, to say the least. The first, held in Los Angeles in 1952, took place without fanfare. It has gotten so that now there are at least three a year in the U. S. alone. Last year, in May, The Daughters of Bilitis added theirs to the already existing Mattachine and ONE Conventions and came through with a smashing success. They were able to top attendance records of the other two organizations with about 110 persons at the luncheon and 125 at the banquet. Apparently a convention of lesbians still is news-and an attraction. Of course, the girls had the wholehearted support and cooperation of a mixed group such as ONE, and having participated in earlier Institutes, were able to profit from the experience, also, one third of their audience was male.

ONE's Seventh Midwinter Institute held the last weekend of January had no such corresponding boost either from D.O.B. or Mattachine with the result that work on a very serious, knotty problem confronting all homosexuals was made more difficult if not less entertaining. Operating with only 60% of its normal attendance, but with hun-

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by del mcintire

dreds of responses from those who could not be present, the Institute devoted its attention to drawing up

a

"Homosexual Bill of Rights" which had been planned by the Monday night class HS-260 as "A Group Participation Project in Homophile Education." But the thought of "rights" in conjunction with "homosexuals," although a perfectly natural concept to members of HS-260 who had met two or more hours per week since September 1960 preparing plans for the Institute, so shattered the minds of certain individuals and groups represented at the Midwinter affair that whereas they "participated" in a broad sense of the word, they didn't actually "share" which is a more usual definition, in the project. The resultant pulling and hauling was fun if not educational, and this reporter feels that in one sense it was even that.

When official announcement of the theme "A Homosexual Bill of Rights' was made early in November, responses from readers of ONE Magazine were almost unanimously favorable. But reactions from the women of DOB indicated that they couldn't care less about "rights." Why was this, mused members of HS-260. But they were not long concerned, what with the tremendous

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