friends from time to time, but if we are overcome such truly friends we quickly overcome instances. I enjoyed ONE under Miss Reid's editorship, and I enjoy ONE now. Furthermore, I need ONE, and I trust vice-versa. I hope and pray that Miss Reid will forgive what she considers to be your August indiscretion and reestablish her friendhip, interest, and concern for ONE's current leadership. We have too much dissension with others to break that "Mystic bond" between
US.
And the above is why I've never written to complain to you in some 9 or 10 years as a subscriber.
Dear Mr. Slater:
Mr. G. L.
Brooklyn Heights, N. Y.
A word about Mr. Legg's article. I believe he has hit the nail on the head. The Church is doing very little in the way of helping homosexuals adjust to everyday life. I have talked to several Catholic priests in the past iew years, and found that they personally believe that there is nothing sinful in being homosexual. However, their official opinion is somewhat different in that they must follow the dictates of the Church, and the Church believes homosexuality is a crime against nature. How absurd this belief is to a thinking person. Mr. Legg's article was concise and meaty. Many thanks.
Dear ONE:
Mr. J. R. Indianapolis, Ind.
I do admire the effort you are all putting forth to protect and educate homesxuals, since you think it is right. But I want to ask. you about the question of religion and its ideas. How can you say that the founders of Christianity do not disapprove of homosexuality? Firstly, any Christian says that Christ founded the Church, and the disciples, etc. wrote the books of the Bible. Have you forgotten the downfall of Sodom and Gomorrah? Have you forgotten that sodomy is a sin in religion and also illegal in most of the world? Can you explain this? As to those other faiths whether they be Jews or atheists from my own observation and from general consensus, they are the most moral people on the earth. The statistic also is that there is a very low rate of divorce among the Jews (I am a Catholic by the way). As a child I was a protestant. I might add, I am not a fanatic; I still have gai friends from years ago, but it seems difficult for some to realize that we can live another way, as, for instance, in chastity. I freely admit that temptation is always
one
there, but I have a will greater than I knew overcome the uselessness of homo-
to
sexuality.
Gentlemen:
Mr. B. G.
New Orleans, La.
I thought Mr. Legg's "A Moral Imperative" which appeared in the December number was a really fine piece of writing and a very good analysis of the religious situation. I would not have changed one word. "Them there's my sentiments"!
One of the Miami newspapers recently carried a short article reporting that in one of the elementary schools located in this notorious police state of Dade County, Florida, the safety patrol is in the habit of stopping the children as they leave the school premises in the afternoon, for the purpose of searching their pockets to see if they are carrying certain articles-matches and gum, I believe which have been forbidden them by the school principal. One irate father called the school board and complained. The principal of the school refused to comment on the matter, and the poor naive father has yet to learn that in a police state it is useless to complain.
We must acknowledge that the poor safety youths can hardly be blamed for doing the same thing their elders are doing, and for showing in their behaviour the natural warping that occurs to the personality of anyone who has grown up in a police state and who has never known anything else. It is very unpleasant to realize that a large segment of the American population is now growing up in cities which practice this disrespect for the rights of the individual. This segment is going to accept police state methods as a natural part of the American scene, and it will be taken for granted, unfortunately.
Gentlemen:
James F. Kearful Miami, Florida
Please don't let some old nellie frighten you into changing the format of ONE Magazine. I look forward to receiving it each month. Sometimes there is an irregularity in style in the stories but, on the whole, they are good. I would say that the poetry is above average. Do continue your drawings. I saw nothing obscene about the controversial sailor (perhaps because I am exnavy myself), but if that drawing disgusted any old maid, she should see M's "David" in person. When I saw it in Florence, I was stunned with admiration. That day the American fleet was being hosted by willing "uncles." There is one mad, mad, mad town.
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