Area. In furtherance of that policy, you yourselves will see evidences at the present annual convention in the nature of the seminar program arranged for Saturday afternoon on the theme "A Survey of the Homophilic Problem, 1956."

In vacating the office of Research Director, may I extend my thanks for the confidence placed in me by the Board of Directors and make clear that I am only too sorry that the present possibilities of the organization do not make it possible for a valid research program. I look forward to the time when such is possible.

I will at all times in the future be available for such assistance as I can offer in such a program.

--Basil Vaerlen,

Research Director

PUBLIC RELATIONS REPORT

The Public Relations Department, handicapped by distance from conducting any national public relations program for all units of the Society, has nevertheless been active in the past year.

In preparation is a revised public relations policy with suggestions for its implementation within each area. Emphasis has been placed upon the need for capable leaders in each area to contact agencies and officials nearby to explore possibilities whereb the Society may aid such groups and persons with information, possibly speakers, and so on.

Already available are a number of edited sound tapes which may be used by units within the Society, or furnished to other groups in any locality. Subject material includes general information about Mattachine and our field of endeavor; recorded talks to Mattachihe discussion groups; selected radio and television programs related to our theme.

During the past year, the Society took out a membership in the American Friends Committee on Legislation. It is contemplated that Mattachine will take out contributing memberships in other organizations whose work parallels our own, in order to lend some support to these parallel public service programs.

--Ron Brookhart,

Public Relations Director

mattachine REVIEW

LEGAL-LEGISLATIVE REPORT

Progress in the field of law and legislation has been practically nil in the past year. This is quite understandable. Until such time as the Mattachine Society is able to acquire the professional interest of genuinely sympathetic legal minds The interested there will be little progress in this field. persons do exist, however, and bridging the gap to them is our

job.

Just as in other departments of the Society, professional aid and guidance is a must if we are to accomplish legal goals. Lay persons are extremely handicapped in compiling any accurate data which would be of use in a study of present laws and legislation and how they affect the homophile. It is hoped that in the near future reputable men in the field of law will see fit to work with the Mattachine Society on the problems that The most vital of these are so vital to all Americans today. is the cause of Civil Rights and the Homosexual.

But the situation is not all darkness, however. Many legal minds and affected individuals are sounding a call for the change of law which takes into consideration the fact that people and their behavior are what they are, nothing else. Morals are rapidly becoming something for institutions other than the law to regulate.

Here we cite the publicized recommendations of the American Law Institute (see Mattachine Review, July-August 1955); the findings of medical and religious groups in England, and the writings of authors such as Peter Wildeblood and Dr. Donald J. West of England. Don't forget that changes of British attitude (ever more straight-laced than America's) presage a similar change in America.

In Chicago work continues on a legal brochure which is bẹing prepared by a prominent Chicago attorney. This brochure will be a study of the laws in Illinois which affect the homosexual in particular. Upon completion of this legal brochure project, that document will be adapted for the several states in which the Mattachine operates, and reproduced in quantity for distribution by the Area Councils in these states.

In New York, formation of a legal-legislative chapter is imminent, we are told. They will be concerned with projects such as reported above in Chicago.