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the battles has cleared away we are still together, wending our way through the intricate patterns of everyday living. Our way of life is simple. Our way of thinking is that o! average persons. And our general philosophy about the whole thing. is really simplicity itself. We'll leave it to others to wade in a morass of complicated formulas and dictums which only they could possibly understand. We're content to be just average guys trying to get along in a confused and complex world.

In reality a relationship such as ours is no different than any other, provided the union is founded upon certain fundamental values and principles. Both are bound by moral and spiritual vows. Other than the indbility of a couple of the same sex to bear or legally adopt children,. the main difference between the two unions is that one is bound by legal contract. With the heterosexual marriage there is the cooling-off period, the legal expense, the waiting of time, the divisions of properties and monies. With homosexuals ending a relationship is merely a matter of saying "I quit" and walking off.

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With any two people living together, regardless of sex, thére, is always adjustment to be made if the relationship is to last. Each must see the other's viewpoint occasionally, to give and take how and then, discuss likes and dislikes with frankness and honesty. And what is more important, come to realize that the problem of the, present which may seem like the most gigantic, insurmountable one ever faced, may in a week or a month hence turn out

to be of such insignificance as to warrant not even a passing thought.

Our first year together we kept separate bank accounts. The next year we had our accounts combined. The same arrangement now applies to all of our material gains such as our property, home and automobile. In the event of death, survivor takes all. We have between the two of us made known what we would like our relatives to have, and both of us know that we will carry out each other's wishes. So we are bound by material ties as well. It would be difficult, indeed, for either of us to just put on a hat and coat and say goodby. This type of arrangement comes, of course only after a long time of really knowing one another. There is something within which seems to tell when someone can be trusted to that great extent. To our way of thinking there is no greater asset than true honesty-that type of honesty which, comes from within one's soul. Bow down to other temptations if you must, but let honesty remain your one great virtue. Lose that and you have lost everything.

It is doubtful whether anyone has ever found the Utopian type of world which arises in our daydreams. There are many thousands of people, and no doubt many among you read this article, who have arrived on ' that great plateau of love and peace and tranquility, but who cannot see the forest for the trees. Take the binoculars away from your eyes. What you are seeking you may already have John and I learned this fact nine years ago.

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The MATTACHINE REVIEW is published by the Mattachine Society, Inc., a -profit, non-partisan organization founded in the public interest for the purpose of providing true and accurate information toward the solution of problems of human sex behavior.

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the homosexual in PRISON

by Ross Puryear

DURING the last few years there

have been numerous published references to the homosexual in prison. Since the publication of such matter would certainly indicate the interest of a number of responsible people in the subject, it strikes me as rather odd that so little has been written concerning the advisability of imprisoning the homosexual at all. What are the net results of such incarcerations? Does imprisonment leave a perceptible mark upon the individual? How does it affect the heterosexual members of prison?

Last December I was released from prison after having served a sentence of four years and four months. This sentence was not imposed for homosexuality, but it did offer me the opportunity of obtaining firsthand views of these problems and the chance to try to arrive at some satisfactory answers. It was quite obvious to me, as it would be to any other man with an ounce of perception, that the incarceration of a homosexual merely because he is homosexual, is an act which wrecks lasting damage upon the individual and usually upon society itself.

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The homosexual, when imprisoned, becomes natural prey for every sort of bigotry, erotic abuse and brutality. And even if he is physically strong and has more than m average amount of courage, he nay have to endure horrors and

Until his recent release, the au thor of the following article spent four years in the prison road gang of a Southern state, where he wore leg irons even after they had been outlawed, and worked 12-hour shifts in the swamps of the state. His forthcoming novel, based upon experience, is scheduled for an autumn publication.

atrocities that would soundly shock the misguided society that put him in prison in the first place. When we think of rape, we almost exclusively consider it as the attack of a male upon a woman. In free society this is usually the case. But a prison is quite different from free society just as the emotions and desires of the prisoner are shaded quite differently from his counterpart living a free life. In prison, rape is not uncommon. It has happened and will continue to happen unless something is done to prevent its

recurrence.

In prison I knew a 19-year-old boy who had been incarcerated for the crime of having committed a homosexual act with a boy of his same age and with mutual agreement'exisiting between the two boys at the time the act was committed. While I was in prison I witnessed the attempted rape of this boy. If I had not intervened (with the assistance of a baseball bat) the rape would have been successful. The boy's life was in jeopardy when he suddenly found a sharp knife at his throat.. He resisted briefly but was soon convinced that the man who

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