terms of major demarcations, and linguistic usage has largely limited the term to matters of politics, race, religion, or economics. But even within this limited usage, minorities exist in France, I am sure, just as they do everywhere else. It may be true that France is so well integrated that racia! problems as such do not exist there, but, life being what it is, somewhere in France-and throughout all of Europe-there are groups of people to whom the word 'minority' can properly be applied. As a matter of fact, each and everyone of us is a member of some minority group if only by reason of being left-handed instead of right-handed, or by preferring catsup to maple syrup on his breakfast hot cakes. The fact is, however, that we do not ordinarily apply the term to such arbitrarily restricted groups, and rarely is the term, in the sense that we use it here, applied to any group whose rights, privileges and prerogatives have not in some manner been restricted by a majority. So strong is this connotation that the term 'minority', in some situations as to the Negroes in Mississippi, can well be applied to a group which has an actual numerical majority.

Viewed in this light it is ridiculous to compare the Auvergnats in Paris. or the Berrichons in Marseille with what we call a true minority group These peoples have not had their rights or privileges abridged by the other citizens of their adopted homes. If they had, the situation might br quite different. It is also ridiculous to make a comparison between France and the United States on this level: every large American city has its "back home" clubs and societies, but no one thinks of these groups as being minorities either.

Minorities, in the sense that we are accustomed to using the word, are created by historical accident, and I very much doubt that they ever have

been or ever can be created by deliberate action from within the group itself. Minorities do not create themselves; they are created whenever the majority draws lines, and then either through fear or distaste, creates barriers, whether by law or by social or economic sanctions, for the very purpose of preventing the integration of the minority. There are, to be sure, groups which in terms of numbers belong to a minority and who are interested in preserving their distinction as a minority-but these are not groups whose rights have been abridged. Quite the contrary; they are groups which for one reason or another enjoy rights and privileges not enjoyed by the majority. It may be only a matter of semantics, but we do not apply the word 'minority' to such groups as these. The word we use then instead is the emotionally charged word 'exclusive.'

Finally, minorities which are content to exist quietly, to accept with resignation the conditions which chance, fate, or the majority have imposed upon them are scarcely ever thought of as minorities. Certainly, they are not a "minority problem." It is only when a minority becomes aware of its status and is no longer willing to accept that status, only when it decides to destroy its identity as a minority and attempts to become an integrated part of the society which surrounds it, only when it dares to demand equality with others living in the same environment, that the group attracts attention. as a minority. Certainly only then does it become a "minority problem."

It is for all these reasons that I, for one, have chosen to speak of American homosexuals as a minority group. When I do so, it is not because I want to create an all-homosexual society with its own bars, restaurants, movie houses, homes, streets, and districts, but because I want to

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