ways necessary. More and more one runs the risk of meeting up with a member of the vice squad. An exchange of conversation that does not border on the gay side is best. One leads up to questions which might establish the interests of the other individual very slowly. It is difficult to lay down exact ground rules; one has to play it "by ear."

You might first establish contact with members of those occupations which are commonly believed to have large numbers of homosexuals; for this purpose you would want to know interior decorators, hair-dressers, florists, and, yes, teachers, clergymen, and doctors. And it makes no difference whether you like these types or not. They make safe contacts for getting started.

Many YMCA's provide a reasonable place to make friends as large percentage of the men who visit them are homosexual. Participate in the open swimming periods, work out in the gyms, become a sun-deck frequenter, and learn to "love steam." Many health clubs also attract the gay crowd.

My own personal method of quickly detecting the "fellow traveler" is to watch the eyes of those around me. Do they wander, and to what is their attention drawn? I find this is a nearly fool-proof method of spotting a potential friend.

I am rather enthusiastic over the steam baths as a place to meet other homosexuals. Most cities have them, and many of them have become very popular with our people. Steam baths exist not only in the U.S., but in many other countries of the world. Some of the finest gay baths are to be found in London, Paris, Stockholm, and Amsterdam. But you must realize that they are potentially dangerous. They are patrolled regularly, and some managements cooperate with the police. And worse still, one tends to let

down one's guard because of the permissive atmosphere and get carried away in more ways than one. True, when a steam bath is exclusively homosexual (and most major cities have at least one), the patron has a wide number of persons from whom to choose. There is little of the guesswork that one finds in bars, where the question arises, "Is he?" or "Isn't he?"

I have never personally enjoyed gay bars, because too many members of the vice squad patronize them, and because hustlers find them a good field. However, if one exercises considerable prudence, they can at least provide one with a good chance of finding out what is going on in the town. There is no law against talking to anyone, and usually a probing conversation will determine the nature of the person to whom you are speaking.

A few cities have private clubs for the gay set, where dancing is a part of the activity. It is often possible to visit these clubs, at least as a guest. London, especially, has many fine clubs that welcome American tourists.

Once I establish a contact in a new town, I ask a lot of questions and find out other places where the gay crowd meet. Knowledge is quickly gathered in such a way. My little "black book" is bulging with facts picked up from my travels around. I ask, not only about the city I am visiting, but of other cities my new friends may be familiar with.

But after all, it is still possible to be lonely in a large city. And for this problem there is no easy cure. I can only observe that today a homosexual need not want for company. The way is to shed one's reticence and start leading a gay life in any one of the many homosexual communities. And strangely enough, a homosexual takes less of a chance of being discovered by leading such a life than in any other way.