ing to know whether I knew various people, including the two who defected to Russia.
I had never heard of any of the gentlemen named and even if I had I certainly would not cooperate. That's for sure! I am an advocate of civil liberties for all minorities. I believe we homosexuals must be tolerant and really democratic in our dairly life in contact with other people.
Dear ONE:
Mr. A.
New York, New York
A news report has revealed that the American involved in the current Russian spy drama in England has been identified as Morris Cohen who had a record as a star football player on his Bronx high school team.
Don't you agree from this that henceforth those with overt records as football-players should be regarded as security risks in general employment, especially in sensitive jobs? Noel I. Garde
New York, New York
people thought we were harmless, amusing clowns. Frank Harris' "Oscar Wilde and His Confessions was bootlegged at ten dollars a set, but it was considered as merely a delightfully dirty story.
When the "Well of Loneliness" and Kinsey's books became best sellers and all the smartaleck newspaper columnists never lost a chance to mention homosexuals for the shock value people then began to realize that homosexuals are people.
In the last ten years or so, in one city after another, mayors and police chiefs have made a big fuss about getting rid of all homosexuals because they thought it would please the electorate and draw attention away for their own ineffectualness. This is silly, because the electorate couldn't care less. Even women don't consider homosexuals any real competition. The really vicious Do-Gooders are those who are afraid of their own homosexual impulses. Mr. B.
San Francisco, California
Dear Sirs:
There seems to be an unusual amount of harrassment going on these days around the Hollywood area both by uniformed policemen and plain-clothesmen.
A friend of mine was recently stopped while engaged in a no more detrimental act than walking toward his home after getting off work. He was neatly dressed in suit, white shirt and tie. After identifying himself he was further delayed by a barrage of questions regarding where he had been, where he was going, why he was taking this route, etc.
Refusal to answer, I suppose, would have resulted in his having been taken to the policestation and held on "suspicion." As it was, he supplied the answers and was finally allowed to go on his way. Does the citizen have any rights in this matter? It seems very apparent to me, from many different cases I have known and heard about, that the policeman has no responsibility whatever to the citizen he has taken in on suspicion to establish any reasonable foundation for that suspicion, or even to inform the citizen of what crime he is suspect. Mr. M. Hollywood, California
Dear Friends:
I think the hounding of homosexuals all over the so-called Christian world is the price we pay for being recognized. About forty years ago when I was young, everyone knew about sex deviations. They were the subject of the funniest smoking-room stories, but people thought they were just gay adventures. They didn't connect them with individuals. We all pretended to be more effeminate than
we were to attract attention. Most
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THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY Dear Sir:
I always read your Magazine, though not personally interested in homosexuality. I used to be a social scientist and lecturer at University, and find more real thought and coming-to-grips with THE problem of our time -the proper relation between the individual and society-than in almost any other magazine with which I am acquainted.
I know that you have read Lindner's "Must You Conform?" Consciously or otherwise, you who publish ONE are certainly doing a good job of following his prescription for constructive rebellion (pp. 177-81).
I am engaged in minor efforts of my own, with which you are probably totally unfamiliar, and I can honestly say that I wish I could feel I were making as constructive a contribution to society as you are doingquite aside from the specific issue of homosexuality.
Dear Sirs:
Mr. J.
Los Angeles, California
To some extent I agree with the letter from Mr. F. (February, 1961), although I have never gained the impression of which he speaks, namely, that the material in the Magazine tends of encourage self-pity. At the same time, I do feel that our most profitable approach will be that of investigating every possible means of demanding our rights as citizens of a free country.
I'm hoping that some concrete steps in this direction can result from the Midwinter Institute. I think I speak for most, though, when I say that we do need leadership in this. It's
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