Doesn't Anyone

Ever Stay Home?

by Gene Guillardo

It appears that the homosexuals of today are preoccupied with bars. In nearly every piece of writing on the matter of homosexual rights and freedoms, it appears that the prime complaint is the fact that bars cannot become homosexual without being closed.

Is this the argument? It would appear to be yes. Are bars our entire life? They certainly seem to be from what one reads. Why should we associate ourselves to them so closely in the first place? We shouldn't.

While it is true that many homosexualsas do heterosexuals-drink, it is not true that homesexuals are lushes. But it is unfortunate that this impression is so resoundingly emblazoned in every writing on the subject of homosexuality.

Only recently an article appeared in these pages lamenting the treatment of an individual during the course of his "investigations of (I suppose) straight bars." It is amusing and interesting that one would undergo so much personal and social disgrace and so near his own home, where it is most probable that he is also known outside those bars. If this is the case, (and what else is one to believe?) then the writer must have been able to sustain considerable embarrassment in the name of research.

It is interesting, to be sure, to

learn that such conduct is in evidence, but not surprising. The writer, it would appear, is using the same tactics against straights that straights continuously use against us. His portrait in words, while true as far as it may go, cannot and should not be accepted as representative of the total picture. What is to be gained from it?

It has been my personal pleasure to travel the four corners of this country since I am homosexual and drink, to have frequent occasion to visit bars. While traveling in "unknown territory" it is not always possible to know where to go. This makes it necessary to simply choose a bar and have a drink, totally unknown and a complete stranger.

While I do not claim to appear totally straight, I am not in the least (in my opinion, of course) "obvious." The result is that I seem to "get along" with both customers and bar tenders. I, too, have been invited to parties, some of which I would admit were questionable. I have not, however, ever been asked to leave or been put out of a bar because of my individualness or individuality.

On the other side of the coin I have "frequented” many straight bars as a regular customer in areas where I have been located for lengthy periods. I've never been approached either by bartender or customer, nor