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· OPEN LETTER (Cont'd from page 4)

HOMOSEXUAL SEEKS HELP

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is the awareness that just possibly in a storm, might do something regrettable.

I am an intelligent, wellread and thoughtful person, respected and liked by my fellow-workers. Sometimes a solution to my problems seems right in my hand then escapes.

What can you suggest?

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"A PERPLEXED GUY." P.S.-I do hope you can help me. I am appealing to you because while "Justice Weekly" is no exponent of the "gay way", it does try to treat both sides of the question.

JUSTICE WEEKLY printed the letter without any additional comment. Here is the reply which followed:

London, Ont.

Dear Perplexed Guy",

I am writing this letter to make certain facts clear to yourself, and to all others in need of advice or assistance who may read it.

First of all, homosexuality as commonly understood is not the lecherous perversion of self-indulgent degenerates, but one of the manifestations of a powerful unconscious force to which, IN OTHER FORMS, civilization owes much of its strength and some of the greatest of its achievements.

Secondly, all men are unconscious homosexuals re-

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quiring only a strong enough tip of the unconscious balance to throw them into manifest homosexuality.

Thirdly, the greatest obstacle to an objective understanding of your sex problem lies in the moral prejudice either conscious or unconscious, of your friends. But remember this, whether it manifests itself in gales of beer hall laughter, in the harsh disapproval of the sexually inhibited "hearty," or the more pious reprobation of the moral Philistine, the common prejudice regarding homosexuality can be traced to a common cause namely the tendency of the average man to despise in others the impulses that lie hidden in his own unconscious mind.

Once you accept these three facts you are well on your way to understanding the problem that lies before you.

As with all problems there are two sides to each case, and homosexuality is no exception. Let's take a look at both sides:

corners

Every large town in Canada has its recognized street and parks where homosexuals can be sure they will meet others of their kind. One park in Toronto is so well known that it has become almost a show place; people who want to see the night life of Toronto are often taken to see this haunt of homosexuals.

When a visitor passes one of these street corners or enters one of these parks by mistake, he cannot fail to be aware of the fact that he is

mattachine REVIEW

in a homosexual meeting place. Most people will leave as soon as possible. Those visitors have stumbled upon the edge of a problem so large that no matter how much one may attempt to shroud it in secrecy, it must spill over into public life.

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Occasionally when the homosexuals get too obvious or the place gets too infamous, the police will initiate a campaign to "clean up the town." But the police campaign is no more effective than beating a blanket to get rid of bed bugs. It is impossible to "clean up" these places because the problem is too large. All the police can do is to move them on, to spread the vice over a wider area.

The ordinary man thinks of a homosexual as an effeminate, overdressed man with a high-pitched voice and a peculiar walk. But most homosexuals are not physic ally different from the normal man and are most careful to hide their abnormality from the rest of the world. For every recognizable homosexual that the public may see, there are 20 more hidden away from the unsympathetic eyes of the general public. Even if the problem were

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limited to the street-corner loiterers and the underground homosexual societies of the big cities, they would still present a challenge to society to put its house in order. But they are only a small minority. Most of the homosexuals live and work among normal people and cannot be distinguished from normal people in any way. For the most part, they are decent, intelligent men most anxious to toe the social line, as anyone. Physically they are exactly like their heterosexual fellows, but underneath there is the recognition that their tendencies are all against the law of the country and the moral code of our society. Inside there is a continuous emotional war, outside they guard the secret of their abnormality with a fearful tenacity.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT PERHAPS THE MAJORITY OF HOMO. SEXUALS SHOW LITTLE TENDENCY TO COMMIT PERVERSE ACTS ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR HIGH ETHICAL STANDARDS. HOMOSEXUALITY, AS WELL AS ORDINARY SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR, CAN DEVELOP ON THE HIGHEST PLANE.

Finally, "Perplexed Guy," you must decide whether or not you are a "TRUE HOMOSEXUAL." Homosexuality is an ATTITUDE. OF MIND in which the affections are turned towards a member of the same sex, nothing more, nothing less. If you do not fall into this category you are not a true homosexual and therefore must be one of the following:

(1) THE PSEUDO HOMOSEXUAL is the man with

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