JODY GOES TO A COVENTION

The 1964 Convention of the Daughters of Bilitis started almost on time on Saturday morning, June 20, at the Barbizon-Plaza Hotel in New York.

Representatives from the San Francisco chapter and the Chicago chapter of D.O.B. were on hand, as well as people from other homophile organizations country-wide.

After welcoming speeches from New York's D.O.B. president, Miss Shirley Willer and the president of D.O.B.'s National Board, Miss Cleo Glenn, the first guest speaker was introduced.

Dr. Wardell B. Pomeroy, former assistant to Dr. Kinsey, led the day-long parade of professional persons addressing the convention. Dr. Pomeroy is a long-time favorite of the homophile organizations because of his sincerity, charm and humor. The theme of his talk was, "Homosexuality, the Present and the Future." As always, Dr. Pomeroy gave full measure to his subject, and was barraged with questions from the audience at its conclusion. Because he was addressing a convention sponsored by an organization for women, one of Dr. Pomeroy's most interesting topics was the difference in public attitude toward the male homosexual and the female homosexual. A most significant point which Dr. Pomeroy made is the fact that public ignorance insists upon linking male homosexuality with criminality-with rape, child

molestation and so on, whereas the female homosexual is almost totally free of this stigma. Dr. Pomeroy also gave a most interesting statistic-that while 15% of male homosexuals are "obvious" only about 5% of Lesbians are recognizable as such.

The second speaker of the day was Dr. Ernest van den Haag, author of "The Fabric of Society" and "Education as an Industry." Dr. van den Haag, an analyst who was quoted recently in Life Magazine's article on homosexuality, had as his subject "The Social Situation of the Homosexual." I was assigned to cover only Dr. Pomeroy and I therefore did not make many notes of the other speeches. Since it was a long and tiring day, I cannot remember much of what Dr. van den Haag said. I only recall that he was most sympathetic to the subject-but perhaps more inclined to think of homosexuals as ill persons than is Dr. Pomeroy. He was a softspoken gentleman, and most charming. and that is about all I remember.

The first woman guest speaker on the program was Dr. Sylvia Fava, whose field is sociological research. Her talk, although interesting, was rather negative in the sense that she was only able to tell us how little research is being done on the homosexual in the sociological field. It seems that most sociologists shy away from the subject. She was well received by

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