So I set out and with theoretical bases established that it is, literally, a minority group. It satisfies all of the classical requirements. And to get to this point one had to go into ... who stated quite clearly just what sociological concern is and that it is not the psychological behavior nor the physical structure but the interaction between more than two people,

or two or more.

Well, this is what I was concerned with. I wasn't concerned with psychology at all. The psychologists examine the subject of homosexuality in terms of clinical study and in terms of people that come to them.

This is not our concern. Our concern is far more the people who have not gone for help because they have been living presumably within framework of problems that they can handle.

So, therefore, we assume that regardless of why, the group exists. It is here. And we are interested in finding out who this group is and what it is and how it interacts within itself and within the context of the whole society.

So it is with this premise that I started out, assuming that this is a minority group. By definition it becomes a minority because it suffers from discriminatory practices placed on it by the dominant group. Between help from ONE and THE LADDER I was able to substantiate this very nicely on the basis of the legal discriminations which are imposed upon

it.

When one establishes that homosexuals are a minority group, then one says, what does this mean in terms of the whole society? It means that when you have a minority group, the society itself is disfunctional, because it has a part-just as an automobile

one

has a part-which is not allowed to function completely and, therefore, it cannot function completely. And the group itself is maintained in a position of disfunction. It cannot function fully because it is restricted. This means to the whole of society that it has a large population which is not participating at every level. And this becomes, then, a very valid problem for sociology.

From this point one then starts to examine this group in terms of where does this minority group differ from the dominant group, from the majority? And if one excludes the area of sexual inquiry and starts exploring other values, we may find that since this is a minority in reverse-since it came from the dominant group and the dominant values were imposed upon it and then this group filtered out and became a minority-it may be that it has the same values. Or it may have stronger values.

This means that we may be able to say to society, this group is in a sense no different from you, the stereotype you have is false.

To this end I have started my studies in terms of the family, perceiving the definition of the family as two people living together and establishing a home. So I have used couples who have lived together for one year or more. At the start we hoped to have a 3-year limit, but that was too hard to find. not because they are not available but because people are quite reticent about participating in research projects, and understandably so.

However, in studying them in terms of family, it becomes a matter of concern to us to know how this family relates in terms of other families. And this is the whole purpose of my particular study, in the trial stage at this point.