moral. Of course, I 'realize that to offer as the sole moral criterion of an action that it shall be harmless is apparently to offer nothing at all, for it may take an entire lifetime for us to discover what ultimately was harmful to us or to others. Certainly the pragmatic way is not easy, for it is full of the most burdensome responsibility for the welfare of others and requires great sensitivity and good-will. But But without sensitivity and good-will what moral dogmas have ever been of any avail?

MENTAL ILLNESS UP Without explanation, an alarming. increase in the number of veterans applying for hospitalization has been noted by the Veterans Administration. Some 15,000 are now on waiting lists, and the number is shooting upward each day, Newsweek magazine reports.

YOU CAN PARTICIPATE Any person over 21 interested in taking an active part in the program

I.C.S.E. newsletter Subscription, $3.00 per year. Holland.

of the Maltachine Society may do so. The plan is simple: Write to the Society obtain general information, and set up a discussion group or chapter with your friends and associates.

SOMEONE YOU KNOW Among your acquaintances, there are probably one or more persons who would appreciate more information about true aspects of human sex behavior. Parents, educators, a!torneys, judges, police officers and many others often have incompléte knowledge and erroneous information on the subject. You can aid their understanding of the conditions and aspects of sex variation with a subscription for one or more such persons to this magazine. The cost is low-only $2.50 per year. The benefit can be of immeasurable value. (Note: All such orders must be signed by you.)

(6 times per year) Mimeographed news organ of the International Committee for Sexual Equality, English edition Address, Postbox 542, Amsterdam, Monthly magazine in Dutch. Sub-

endschap scription $4 per year. Published by Cultuur en Ontspanningscentrum, Postbox, 1564, Amsterdam, Holland.

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. (monthly) published since 1936, in German; also articles in French and English (no translation duplications) drawings and photos, $7.00 yearly, first-class sealed $11.

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SWITZERLAND

mattachine REVIEW

by ROSS PURYEAR

BREAD upon the upon the water

s in most parts of the world, there are a handful of American magazines which cater to the more depraved tastes of our reading appetites. The subject matter of these magazines Has probed every conceivable source in order to uncover increasingly lurid copy. The goal is always the same to shock, to destroy, to sophisticate, to create anarchy; and with their readers, they seem always to measure a high degree of success. They offer nothing to supplant that which they would destroy, for nothing constructive is ever asked of them. Like scorpions. in the dark, they continue to strike out at anything they touch.

As one would expect, these pub'lications have been attacking homosexuals for some time, and always with an eye to substantial circulation gains. The general theme cf these attacks invariably indicts the homophile as a "menace"to exactly what usually becomes receed ingly vague in the cacophony of self-righteous wailing and gnashing of teeth as the jucier e::amples are brought out for the slavering reader's selection. Among Among other things, the readers of this diatrabic scripture are told that the homosexual is irresponsible and immature that his contributions toward the building of a better, sounder, realistic and reasonable society are nil. Certainly there are many inverts that would fit comfortably into such a category; but proportionately, their ranks are no greater than those that

encompass the worthless and foolish among their heterosexual brethren Constituted as it is, the American press, with the expose magazines as its spearhead, seems prepared to see that all homosexual good shall be interred with its bones.

Thanks to magazines like the Mattachine Review, I would like to recount an example of the homophile in harmony with society. Because of its utter simplicity, I think it will make many who read this think in terms, and of possibilities, that are refreshingly new.

In October, 1951, I was sentenced to five years in one of the many state chain-geng prison camps that dot the South. I entered prison without family or friends to encourage and believe in me and my future. Everyone, everything I'd known in my 24 years seemed to vanish within hours after sentence had been passed on me. No No acquaintance came to console me, or even bothered to write me a sympathetic note. My entire savings had been spent in the months of the trial. Even my clothes had mysteriously disappeared from my apartment after the detectives went to search it. I was penniless, a convict and alone. Most serious of all was the fact that I was only beginning to know myself as a man, and many facets of my personality that were about to set for the rest of my life now had tc do so under the worst possible conditions. To my bitterest disap17