brotherhood that makes all men one"? We who have the gift or curse of being homosexual (it can be a blessing or a curse, depending on our point of view) have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as much as any other human being.

Looking back from August to this past year's Midwinter Institute, it may have failed in its original form, but it has stimulated some thought. In my case I don't feel we need a "Bill of Rights" as much as we need a fuller understanding of ourselves. I would suggest we strive toward a "Code of Ethics" through which we can gain more harmonious feelings and a fuller, happier life. Why not not prove by positive, constructive ideas and deeds that we are a part of the human race? You get out of life what you are willing to give.

Let's strive for more encouragement in building a better better world through greater knowledge and understanding of ourselves and of all men. It can be done! The time and place is here and now-with ourselves, and through our voice" ONE!

Mr. B.

Reading, Pennsylvania

To the people of ONE:

I doubt that your "Bill of Rights" could be too far out for me but, like the girls who gave you a rough time, I would want to know how you propose to use it. I would like to see ONE prepare a moderate and reasonable statement of the position of the homosexual in our country today, followed by proposals for changes in the laws and suggestions for fairer treatment of homosexuals under existing laws.

The Minority may be a fettered giant (see April, 1961) although the potential strength of the giant is a question. A "Bill of Rights" conceived for the Minority itself should not be scorned. It might be of more historical importance than any temporizing propaganda could be. To help break only one of the Minority's fetters would be no small achievement. The material lies at hand and you know how to use it.

Dear ONE:

Texas

Edward Denison

I can't help suspecting that you are wasting your time, though I appreciate and sympathize with your good intentions, in worrying about a special rights bill for homos. I'm one myself, but all I want is equality under the law, not special treatment.

Dr. Bergler has the cart before the horse

when he describes describes homosexuality as a disease that can be cured. What nonsense! Next, he will be claiming that 98% of all Athenian males at the time of Pericles were so sick, due to their homosexuality, that they caused the fall of Athens. But since Athens fell to the Spartans, who made more of an institution of homosexuality than the Athenians ever dreamed of the logic falls flat.

Paralyzed by resentment, immersed in self-pity, pathologically suspicious and often treacherous to their own, the typical American homosexual has partly himself to blame for his present plight, though (as Margaret Mead has pointed out) our female-oriented society stands convicted in the eyes of many as the true villain.

Dear Friends:

Lycis, New York, N. Y.

I wonder how many of your readers have seen the inane sequence of editorials, reports and letters concerning your "Bill of Rights meetings last winter which have drearily splotched the pages of The Ladder for these many months past? On reading it I vacillate between cancelling my subscription and the perverse desire to keep watching to see just how muddled the lesbian can become, if she really works at it.

Have these women no sense of responsibility for doing plain, careful thinking? Or do they just think with their emotions? That is why so many of us are glad we are homosexual and don't have to deal with the female mind at close range, except when we wish to.

Wouldn't it be pleasant if some of the lesbian leaders would do a bit of study in logic and philosophy before they performed quite so embarrassingly in public? I couldn't attend your meetings myself, but from the outlines and the reports which I have seen it looked to me as though your intention was to grapple with the philosophical implications of the civil rights of an oppressed minority and see what you could come up with. However badly done, it sounded like a worthy endeavor to me, and isn't this exactly what our Founding Fathers did when they gave us our Constitution?

To suppose that they settled all questions of rights forever, or that there would not have to be continual explorations and extensions of the principles they set forth seems pretty naive to me. But then as a mere male I guess I just miss all the little subtle touches in it all that lesbians are forever professing to spot. Now let's see if you dare print this.

Mr. H. New York, N. Y.