MAT TACHINE Breaks Through

the Conspiracy of Silence

The barrior of the so-called "conspiracy of sile noe" with reference to mention of the homophile movement in the pross was crashed with a bang at the sixth annual conventi on of the Mattachine Society hold in Donvor last month.

True to the conventi on theme "Now Frontiers in Ace optanco of the Homophile", the Denver Area Council of Mattachine, host to the convention, invited members of the two local nowspapers to attend the open sessions of the convention. A reporter from the "Denver Post" attended the sessions, and a reporter from the "Rocky Mountain News" was presont at a press conference hold at the end of the Saturday meetings. Representatives of the DOB, ONE Inc. and Mattachine woro prosent.

Net result of the effort to obtain publicity was a total of seven newspaper stories, both pre-convention and after, all presenting, honestly and fairly, the aims of the Sooiety and the homophile movement.

A sincore voto of thanks is due the Denver Area Council and the Mattachine Society for their pioneering effort in obtaining recognition from the press. It cannot but make the way easier for all of us.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS

Speaker at the luncheon on Saturday was Dr. Leo V. Topley, psychiatrist from Denver.

A charming, elderly man, originally from Russia, Dr. Toploy looked out over the audience and noted that they appeared to be a "bunch of highbrows". He noted too with a tinge of dispair the comparatively small group prosent (approximately 60), "Foar koops people away from here."

Dr. Topley, recalling incidents from his 40 years of mychiatric practice, pointed out that homosexuals have a high degree of sensitivity "not to be confounded with touchi-

-

5