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HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE NEWS

The San Francisco NEWS CALL BULLETIN recently carried an article discussing the idea of curing sexual deviates by shock treatment. In the article Dr. Karl Bowman referred to the failure of orthodox psychotherapy to cure sexual psychopaths and mentioned the experiments with Pavlovian aversion treatments. Although the example given was homosexual, Dr. Bowman pointed out clearly that he had no reference to homosexuals, since homosexuals are not classified as sexual psychopaths by California district attorneys and judges. He gave a listing of so-called sexual psychopaths for the state of California, which has the best and largest treatment program in the world. Out of 400 men so classified, 4 or 5 were child molesters. They molested girls by a ratio of 2.5 to every boy. Girl molesters were found "most likely to be cured" probably by graduating to older females. Other types were peeping toms, exhibitionists, transvestites, etc. Very few "graduate" from minor to major sex offenses. There seems to be a need for a comment pointing out the moral problem involved in using aversion treatment to change a person, since it could also be used to change a heterosexual into a homosexual.

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The WASHINGTON DAILY NEWS reports that the Mattachine Society of Washington surrendered a charitable solicitation permit that the district proposed to revoke. The LOS ANGELES TIMES reported about the same time that a city ordinance prohibiting male and female impersonation in public was invalidated by the 2nd District Court of Appeal on the grounds that the ordinance has been pre-empted by state legislation. The case was People vs. Martin, Uben & Magdalen. In comments the court said that for "a male, all of whose visible clothing was male attire, to wear his hair long in a feminine manner neither constituted a disguise nor an outrage of public decency." What the paper didn't report was that the police were more outraged at the court's decision and their own ignorance than at the 3 young men. By forcing the issue they had lost not only the case, but the ordinance. You can hardly blame the police for the outrage committed in Melmerby, England, where a bachelor is being forced to marry or lose his home. Wonder what would be said if he "married" a man?

The L.A. Times, in its Calender section publicized a town meeting held in a Unitarian Church in the Southern California area at which the Chairman of the Board of ONE,

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