might expect to be forthcoming failed to materialize. Of the dozens of encouraging letters received from well-meaning friends and supporters, almost none offered that support so vital to the project--substantial financial aid. That problem, it seems, looms as an even tougher obstacle than the resistance of a society bound in prejudice and ignorance about the reality of sex behavior.

Thus the struggle of Mattachine and other organizations working in the field has been slow and tedious, but the miracle is that the homophile movement has persisted and still persists today--stronger than ever despite the difficulties which beset it.

3. On the Air with Pacifica Radio

Since its baptism by "trial in the press" in 1959 there has appeared a growing public interest which Mattachine's leaders have striven to match with positive public relations and information. Mattachine's first monumental radio program was prepared in 1958 for Pacifica Foundation Radio (KPFA, Berkeley; later presented on KPFK, Los Angeles and WBAI, New York). Called "The Homosexual in Our Society, the program was a turning point, perhaps, in viewing the homosexual. In contrast to the previous vogue of regarding him as a loathesome freak, here he was publicly described as a human being with the same feelings, aspirations and capacities as the majority, except for his different choice of private sex behavior..Spokesmen from psychiatry, law, psychology, criminology and sociology declared he was entitled to the same rights and protections as anyone, and that our old attitudes and laws (laws written to apply to all, but nevertheless applied capriciously only to the homosexual) should be changed. This radio program, frequently rebroadcast since its premiere in November 1958, was only the first of many even more controversial topics on the homosexual question aired by Pacifica Foundation stations. Not long ago licenses for their stations were held up by Federal authorities, with the reference to disapproval of programming cited as one of the reasons, but victory was achieved when the licenses were issued.

mattachine REVIEW

Since this program, numerous appearances of Mattachine officers on radio and television have followed, often in the company of representatives of other organizations, and with the so-called "experts," such as judges, lawyers, behavior al scientists, and ministers. Other organizations in other cities have been heard and seen on radio and television also. These events have been a kind of springboard, it seems, for attention to develop from the printed media. Authors of books and magazine articles, as well as reporters for the local and national press have made extensive interviews, some of which got in print (sometimes unfavorably), but most of which did not. TIME and Christian Science Monitor were two examples where material was submitted from the staff in the field which never saw the light print.

4. Speakers for Public Lectures

Along with these developments came, in San Francisco, at least, something else which it seems has been as important as any in breaking the conspiracy of silence. These are the many requests filled by Mattachine speakers before other groups, notably for university classroom lectures and addresses before church and religious groups, public health organizations and for staffs of public and professional agencies. Not alone in providing speakers for such assignments, Mattachine Society nevertheless has a claim to ac complishment for having presented lectures at the University of California, Stanford University, San Jose State College,, and California State College at Hayward--on the campus, in the classroom, and on more than one occasion. Classes in criminology, sociology, psychology and nursing have heard these lectures with measurable interest. Moreover, dozens of students in these and other related courses in behavioral sciences have interviewed, sometimes on recorded tape, and studied in the Mattachine library for special assignmentsTM all the way from a term paper to a thesis or dissertation.

Now and then glimmers of enlightenment pierced the conspiracy in some strange places. Confidential magazine (which first lowered the boom on Mattachine in 1953 with the admonition to "beware, Mr. and Mrs. America, the hand on hip today might slap your face tomorrow''), and