YOUR LIFE AS YOU SEE FIT AND WILL WORK TO CHANGE SOCIETY'S ATTITUDE TOWARD HOMOPHILES.

" IN THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OF THE LADDER YOU PRINTED AN 'OPEN LETTER TO A LESBIAN' BY STERNHAUSER. THE KINDLY INTENTIONS MANIFESTED IN THIS ARTICLE MAY MAKE MY FOLLOWING CRITICISMS SEEM UNKIND, BUT I FEEL THEM NECESSARY SINCE IT IS APPARENT THAT THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN UNABLE TO DIVEST HIMSELF, GUT-WISE (WHERE IT COUNTS), OF THE PREJUDICES HE HAS GROWN UP WITH.

"STERNHAUSER REFERS TO HOMOSEXUALITY AS A "QUIRK' AND SAYS ' THERE ARE MANY OF US WHO DARE NOT BE ANYTHING MORE INTERESTING THAN NORMAL.' THE UNINTENTIONAL IMPLICATION IS THAT HETEROSEXUAL – ITY IS DULL BUT NORMAL WHILE HOMOSEXUALITY IS INTERESTING BUT NOT NORMAL. SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE READ ABOUT COMMUNITIES WHICH USED TO DISCARD THE HEART OF THE WATERMELON AS BEING UNFIT TO EAT, OR WOULD NOT EAT TOMATOES FOR THE SAME REASON. THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE MELON OR THE TOMATO THAT DID NOT LIE IN THE MISEVALUATION. SIMILARLY, THERE IS NOTHING QUIRKY OR ABNORMAL ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY SAVE AS UNINFORMED JUDGMENT MAKES IT SO.

"WHILE IT WAS GOOD TO READ STERNHAUSER'S KINDLY GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT HOMOSEXUAL SOCIETY (1.E., YOU HAVE A GREATER DEPTH OF UNDERSTANDING; YOU POSSESS AN EMPATHY WHICH 'WE' NEVER HOPE TO POSSESS; YOU ARE MUCH MORE COURAGEOUS, ETC.), IT IS ALSO WELL TO KEEP IN MIND THAT SUCH GENERALIZATIONS ARE SUBTLY, OFTEN UNWITTINGLY, DEMONSTRATIVE OF THE FACT THAT IN THE GOOD STERNHAUSER'S MIND YOU ARE SOMEHOW A PEOPLE APART. SURELY MANY OF US MUST NOW BE SENSITIVE TO THE SUBTLE KIND OF PREJUDICE WHICH IS MANIFEST WHEN ONE SPEAKS OF HOW NEGROES HAVE SUCH A GOOD SENSE OF RHYTHM; OR HOW JEWS KNOW THE BEST EATING-PLACES; OR HOW OBEDIENT JAPANESE WIVES ARE, ETC. RE-

GARDLESS OF HOW UNPREJUDICED THE PERSON MAKING THESE GENERALIZATIONS MAY FEEL HIMSELF TO BE, NO MATTER HOW KINDLY HE WAY INTEND THEM AND HOW RIGHTEOUSLY INDIGNANT HE MAY BE WHEN ACCUSED OF PREJUDICE, SUCH GENERALIZATIONS MUST BE SUSPECT. THEY ARE BUT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PREJUDICE-COIN A BETTER SIDE IT MAY SEEM, BUT PREJUDICE NEVERTHELESS. FOR A PERSON WHO THINKS IN THESE TERMS IS SOMEHOW TRYING NOBLY TO BE GENEROUS AND OPEN-MINDED BUT, ALAS, NOT QUITE MAKING IT. IT WOULD BE MORE HONEST, AND PERHAPS MORE COMFORTABLE TO STATE THAT NOT ALL (PERHAPS EVEN MOST) NEGROES HAVE A GOOD SENSE OF RHYTHM, BUT WE NOTICE THE ONES WHO DO; THAT MANY JEWS DO NOT KNOW THE BEST EATING-PLACES; AND THAT JAPANESE WIVES CAN BE