talked to analysts and priests and MD's. They can't help me; they can only think that I need to be cured. I guess I need comfort and assurance, but not nearly so much as I need to be understood and most of all loved.

What are they trying to do to us? I don't know what they think they are trying to prove. Maybe how many people they can drive insane, like some kind of a game. I'm not a freak or some kind of a perverted sex maniac. I'm human and need companionship, understanding, love. I need them now, not when I'm sixty or seventy. Now!

Dear sirs:

Mr. L.

Connecticut

I am twenty-two years of age. Could you please inform me if there are any Gay Bars in this area or if there are any persons that happen to live in this area? I have just returned from living in Los Angeles for seven months and got to know quite a few dear and true friends that I will never forget but because of financial reasons and the lack of job training I had to return here and live with my parents.

Idaho is still quite a wilderness but they do know a few of the words from the Gay Set so I'm not sure if they are in the dark or if I am. It gets very lonely way up here in the back country so I am looking forward to your Magazine and what it means in this world of turmoil.

Dear sir:

Mr. D.

Idaho

Let me be frank with you from the beginning, I am thirty-four and have never been able to lick this business of homosexuality. It has almost ruined my life because I have never been able to conquer it and have never fully accepted it. At my age it is hard to change feelings I have had since my teens.

I have never had sexual intercourse with women and feel no desire for it. But some men fill me with strong desires which I have tried to suppress and up to now have. But it has made my life a living hell. I have gone from job to job, city to city, with a bad case of nerves preventing me from keeping a steady job.

Don't misunderstand me: I love this country and especially its French-English character and I'm not constantly preoccuppied with my problems to the exclusion of everything else. If you could give me some social contacts you may know in Canada or some advice i would appreciate it greatly. I am still young and have been told I am handsome.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Mr. F.

Edmonton, Alberta

Letters such as the above continually come to ONE's offices. Many of these are referred

to ONE's Social Service Division Secretary for reply. The replies sent are invariably along somewhat such lines as the following:

1. For legal reasons ONE does not deal with minors. However unfortunate this may be, the fact that this is necessary spot-lights the great need for social and legal reforms. More hopefully, ONE has for several years been exploring and developing programs which may eventually make it possible to counsel minors but no immediate solutions are available, except occasional referrals to physicians, clergymen and psychologists whom ONE has found to be reliable.

2. The problem of self-acceptance is one faced by many persons. All of ONE's publications and activities are specifically designed to aid persons in understanding themselves and others. This will help them to accept themselves better, also to work out the problem of loneliness, but there is no quick, easy solution like taking a pill. While it make take a long time to solve such problems why be discouraged? Many heterosexuals find their problems more than they can manage comfortably too.

3. Arranging for people to meet each other never has been a function of ONE. It has been felt, quite apart from the legal hazards, that friendships are so much a matter of individual tastes and differences of persorality that "institutionalizing" the question of getting acquainted is almost a useless undertaking. The experience of those homophile organizations which have made the attempt quite reinforces ONE's belief in this respect.

However, ONE has for many years had a carefully-considered and well conducted series. of public lectures and meetings in such cities. as New York, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco. and Los Angeles. Usually these meetings either open with a cocktail hour or are concluded with refreshments. These orderly occasions while by no means pleasing to the reckless or to sensation-seekers are pleasant and dignified events which give those attending a chance to converse with each other and to feel themselves a part of something larger than their own petty rounds of self-interest. In this sense they are social, but not otherwise.

ONE's view is that those who make some effort, through reading ONE's publications and through independent study for tthose unable to attend ONE Institute classes in Los Angeles) will soon find ways and means for developing their own social lives in ways appropriate to their own circumstances and reeds. Glamorous? No. Exciting? No, but in the long run you can lead a normally comfortable and happy life and is this not what most people are really looking for?