THE HOMOSEXUAL MINORITY

a sociologist's viewpoint

from an address given at ONE'S 1962 Midwinter Institute

My background has been in sociology and cultural anthropology, and I have been doing studies in minority interaction.

I talked to the head of our psychology department (San Fernando State College) about the concept of the homosexual as a minority group, and she referred me to Dr. Evelyn Hooker of UCLA who was most generous in her assistance and in her encouragement. So I went ahead and presented my concept to the department for approval. And with complete naivete I was unprepared for the reaction "It wasn't a proper subject for sociological inquiry at all!"

There were two problems. First, it was not a proper area. And, secondly, what happens when you come up with this sort of project is that you get identified and so I sort of cleared that barrier by explaining that if the ultimate came and my study was published, I would have a picture on the cover of myself holding my granddaughter in a Madonna pose!

So that satisfied the department that it would be an unbiased study.

The only thing was that they handed me the little problem of establishing the validity of the topic, and this was rather a challenge since I had not been in contact with ONE or THE LADDER to the extent of realizing that the group itself was using the word "minority” in relation to itself.

by Susanne Prosin

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