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Publication of HOMOSEXUALS INTRANSIGENT!

HOMOSEXUAL RENAISSANCE

Number 2       February 25, 1970

CONTENTS  Coming; Epistolary Intercourse; Poetry; Second City [Other items also appear but were not indexed.  Page down for them]

An analysis

HETEROSEXUALITY IN THE MALE

Recent sex surveys have come to the conclusion that a startlingly large percentage of U.S. men are at least in part heterosexual. It is important that society understand the nature of their abnormality and its implications. Thus this paper.

Heterosexuality is a curious distortion of the sexual drive that has its roots in insecurity and immaturity. The sexual drive is diverted from its normal object, a person of one's own sex with whom one seeks a permanent love relationship, a lasting bond between two adult and distinct personalities. Instead, the heterosexual male seeks, in a number of complexly interrelated wishes, to return to the womb, be born again, and live a different life, for he finds his own life unsatisfactory; he seeks to merge himself with another (better) person to create a child at once himself and better than himself; yet, oddly, he often regards the person into whom he wishes to merge, as his inferior. He is obsessed with the idea of immortality and of being sheltered, either by returning to the womb and remaining a perpetual fetus, or by reproducing himself and sheltering (as a parent) his new self (his child). He is confused about his sexual identity in two ways. First, by seeking liaison with a woman, he's trying to reproduce the normal sexual relationship between lesbians; and second, he is at least as capable of identifying with his female child as with a male child — and some men even prefer a female child, feeling an even greater need to protect her (and thus himself).

Clearly, heterosexuality is by no means a simple problem. It involves complex interrelationships and stupefying inconsistencies, arising from a weak ego which strongly seeks to perpetuate itself! Let us examine how heterosexuality works.

The essential thrust of heterosexuality in the male is return to the womb. Since the vagina is the only pathway to the uterus, the vagina becomes the center of sexual attention. Sexual concern with other anatomical structures (such as breasts for the rectum) is quite beside the point, and a substantial segment of the heterosexual subculture looks askance at nonvaginal sex. The heterosexual male thrusts fingers, tongue, and penis into the vagina in a desperate, irrational attempt to find again the security of the womb, to return physically to the womb. Since that attempt can never succeed, heterosexuality is inevitably unsatisfying. But to the extent that the male can re-enter the vagina, through which he traveled when he was expelled by his mother at his birth, heterosexual sex approaches satisfaction. This explains why coitus is the preferred form of heterosexual sex: the tongue cannot penetrate very far into the vagina (and besides, the vagina is a very unsatisfactory object of oralism, for the essence of oralism is taking things into the mouth, not straining the tongue to reach out). Nor can a finger penetrate far. Of the parts of the male body, and the thrust into the vagina, the penis reaches farthest toward the ultimate object, the womb. This fact, combined with the fact that many heterosexual males find pleasurable the sensation arising from the penis's contact with the walls of the vagina, works to push coitus as the prime form of heterosexual sex. In fact, in some heterosexual groups, this most successful approach to the womb is the only permissible form of sex, every other form being regarded as a perversion, taboo.

Frequently a heterosexual male will suck upon the breasts of the female at the same time as he enters her with his penis, revealing doubly the regressive nature of heterosexuality. The sex object is a replacement mother; the sex acts, a return to sheltered infancy on the road back to the totally sheltered and carefree state a fetus enjoys.

The world is too threatening for the heterosexual to face. His ego is too weak to find ways out of the predicaments existence stages. So the heterosexual tries to run away to the womb. He never makes it, but he does find a substitute mother to take care of him, which is almost as good.

The female becomes a mother to the male. She is required to keep his house in order, clean his clothes, make his meals, and meet his other environmental needs at the same time as she is supposed to comfort him psychologically and provide him with sex. A heterosexual man without a woman is a pitifully weak person, and such strength as a mated to heterosexual male may appear to have is illusory, for his strength is really his woman's.

A: Heterosexuality.

What the heterosexual male fails to attain physically, return to the womb, he gains psychologically when he makes his mate pregnant. Part of him, his sperm with half his chromosomes, does indeed make it to the womb, and a child arising from that success is in a very real (seeming) away, the man himself.

Of course, it is not an exact duplicate, but that fact makes the child even more satisfactory, for the heterosexual basically doesn't like himself, even though he seeks to perpetuate himself in children. By having merged biological in with his mother (his mate), a better person than he, he himself has become a better person in the second life (the child's).

If the child should be a boy, the surface identification will be stronger, and the immortality more apparent: any child born to his son (which grandson would live his grandfather's third life) will bear his surname.

If the original man's child is a girl, though, his joy may be even greater, for his "better half" (an expression many heterosexuals, revelatorily do use to refer to their mates) will have won out more obviously, and he will be a "new, improved" person in his second life. Further, insofar as the heterosexual subculture regards women as weak and helpless — rather an odd view considering how much women are required to do — he has an excuse to be extraordinarily protective of his second self, an excuse he would not have with a son. And since finding protection is a crucial motivation to all of heterosexuality, being able to protect a child is basic to most heterosexuals' concept of parenthood.

However, the child, as an extension of the parent, may on the other hand finds itself the target for the abuse and contempt the heterosexual father has for himself. Child-beating is an altogether too common phenomenon among heterosexuals.

A child of heterosexual parents may suffer in other ways. While the child would naturally think himself a separate person from his parents, the father thinks his child to second self, and he may force the child to live the life the father would have liked to live but didn't. "My kid will have everything I didn't" is practically the heterosexual motto with regard to raising children. It translates very readily to "My child will have everything I want" — whether or not the child himself wants it. Or the parent may be unsatisfied with only symbolic return to the womb thru his child, or so self-contemptuous and so bent on achieving regression himself in his own life, that he ignores and neglects his children.

He fucks to forget to his troubles, but he doesn't want to preclude the possibility of having children, for he clings desperately to the notion that maybe he can identify with another child, even if not with earlier children. Since his ego is too weak to cope with his problems, his troubles inevitably are numerous, so we must fuck often.

What this all combines to produce is massive overpopulation, a flood of babies whose lives are warped and distorted by the designs of heterosexual parents.

One of the most pressing designs imposed on the child is that of immortality. The child of heterosexual parents successfully returns a father to the womb. But the father is once again thrown out of the womb when his child is born. Thus must enter again and have more children himself, and his second self (his child) must have children too — whether or not he wants to.

The child of a heterosexual father subliminally comes to catch his father's urgency to return to the womb. And if the child is overprotected, he tends never to mature but rather seeks to continue to be protected by others and to reinforce that protection psychologically by trying to return to the womb himself. Or if neglected, he seeks to find protection by returning to the womb. Further, the role playing among heterosexuals reinforces pressures upon a child of heterosexual parents to become heterosexual himself.

Let me clarify. The heterosexual subculture reproduces many of the features of the general homosexual culture. Heterosexual marriages occur, and some have been known to last several years. Heterosexuals work in all industries, are active in all the arts, and even engage in political or entertainment activities. Some of our best-known personalities are heterosexual. The stereotypes heterosexual (the "super-straight" butch man; the week, saccharin woman) is relatively rare; and most heterosexuals look and act very much liked anybody else — in public. In private, it's another story.

In a typical heterosexual marriage, the man goes to work but the woman stays at home. The man can face the world outside his sheltering home only because he knows that his womblike home environment is being taken care of while he is out, and will be there for him to return to. And providing the money to keep up this womb and support is "wife" (mate) and children is often the only justification for living that a heterosexual male can find.

The "wife" (a double mother — to her "husband" ((mate)) and children) tends to the home (which should be spelled "homb") and children. Thus the woman is the only adult in the house for almost all of a child's waking hours. In this unhealthy state lies the seeds of heterosexuality.

BARGOERS' MOTTO

Nor rain nor sleet nor gloom of night shall stay these faggots in the completion of their disappointed rounds. — LCS

According to Freud (who has been accused of being heterosexual), when a male child first awakens sexually, he relates his sexual desires to the person with whom he has the most intimate relationship — his mother, even though she is of the opposite sex. At this time of life, too, the child begins to identify himself sexually. If he identifies with his mother, who is, after all, the only sexually defined person he sees much of, he can very easily justify his developing heterosexual desires emotionally as being truly homosexual (and therefore normal) because he is " really" a girl. At any rate, the mother is the child's first sexual object.

Unfortunately for the child, his mother is not permitted by her "husband" to be the child's mate (heterosexuals are often very possessive of their mates), so the child is compelled to seek another mate. He has formed a habit of relating sexually (in his mind) to his mother and so seeks out as a sex partner someone like his mother, i.e., a woman.

A number of people assert that heterosexuals must be permitted a leading role in the "homophile" movement. How about organizing them into a separate but allied group. We could call it Heterosexuals Advocating Homosexual Advancement — or HAHA for short. — LCS

His parents also insist that he seek out people of the opposite sex, and they fight vigorously (thru indoctrination and vile defamation of homosexuality) his natural attraction to people of his own sex. Without this indoctrination, they fear (probably rightly) that heterosexuality would die out and their immortality through children would be threatened. Thus heterosexuals tend to perpetuate heterosexuality indefinitely.

Only two ways of breaking this vicious cycle come to mind: first, to remove the children from the clutch of heterosexual parents (something society has heretofore been loath to do); and second, cure the heterosexual of his pathological obsession with the womb.

Standard treatment of a patient who comes to a psychologist seeking to be cured of heterosexuality consists of building up the patient's ego and confidence in his ability to solve his problems. He must be convinced that problems can be solved but cannot be escaped by return to the womb, for such a return is impossible, and the attempt can only proof frustrating.

One major problem in helping heterosexual men to readjust to a normal life is that many heterosexuals are incapable of real love. They are wrapped up in themselves, and everything they do is aimed to serve their own needs. Their sexual contacts are often urgent, impersonal, superficial. They have sex with any woman practically anywhere at any time — with a "loose" girlfriend in theater balconies during movies; with a cheap whore (and the extent of heterosexual prostitution is alarming) in the back seats of cars when they're supposed to be bowling with the boys; with the girl next door on sofas when wary parents are watching the bedroom.

Even when they get married and delude themselves into thinking they're in love, they usually end up staying with a woman just because it would be to unsettling break up an established home and look for better mate (a quest which might well prove fruitless). Heterosexuality provides security to the insecure, and little else. If that is a poor substitute for the profound homosexual love that gives meaning and beauty to most people's lives, at least it is something.

On balance, heterosexuality is probably more helpful than harmful to the individuals who indulge in it. But at the same time it is extremely destructive to society. The blame for overpopulation, the one base cause all sorts of harmful effects such as overcrowding and urban decay, pollution, inadequacy of public services, and the frighteningly rapid exhaustion of natural resources, can be laid at the feet of heterosexuality and only heterosexuality.

Treatment of heterosexuals has not met with notable success in achieving changeover to homosexuality. For the heterosexual, being basically immaturity and insecure, must grow up and become self-confident before he can function adequately in homosexual society.

While we have an obligation to help unhappy heterosexuals to try to change, we must recognize that mass cures are unlikely.

What, then, should society's response be to the problem of heterosexuality? I have no definitive or detailed answers. This paper was designed solely to explain the problem so that you, the reader, can make intelligent recommendations.

One thing is clear: heterosexuality will not spontaneously just disappear. Millions of our citizens are heterosexual, among them some of our most talented people. Perhaps tolerance, besides being the most admirable policy, is also the only policy possible. With tolerance, these people can live constructive, if crippled, lives. — LCS

ERCHO REFORM

Saturday, February 7, the ERCHO Executive Committee (including Craig Schoonmaker as delegate and myself as alternate from HI! gathered in the wilds of Queens (how appropriate!) and took up a proposal by the Homophile Action League of Philadelphia to change ERCHO (the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile — we say "Homosexual") Organizations to prevent a repetition of the takeover by GLF [Gay Liberation Front] of the semi-annual Conference.

As approved by the Executives, the proposal does away with all structure — the only posts to continue are those directly connected with NACHO [North American Conference of Homophile Organizations]; otherwise a committee to be composed of volunteers, will choose a moderator and secure a meeting place for each conference. The conference itself will operate largely without rules, and without any power to pass resolutions in the name of the Conference. It will now function mainly as a place to exchange ideas.

This proposal will not take effect, tho, unless ratified by 2/3 of the member organizations. HI! has so ratified, and we urge all other ERCHO groups to do so. There is a great need for communication, not coercion, among the various groups — to explain programs, try to interest other groups in action proposals, etc. If the new format is not ratified, HI! must consider leaving ERCHO. — John F. Singer

LIMERICK

There once was a teacher gay
Who wouldn't give herself away.
A student found out,
And the teacher came out,
Now they're both very happy that way.

— Roberta Miller

HI! GOES GENERAL

Homosexuals Intransigent! is now an organization for both students and nonstudents. Members may now be students and faculty (of whatever age) OR other people 35 years old or younger. Once admitted to membership, no one will be excluded because of age: HI! will grow with its members. Officers will be elected separately for each college or high-school group organized and for the general combined membership. The exact relationship between campus chapters and the organization as a whole will be worked out within the next several weeks.

Why did we decide (at the meetings of February 15th and 22nd) to become a young-people's organization and not merely a student organization? Because we want to do more than we would be able to do as just a student group: We want to reach unhappy young homosexuals, be they students or nonstudents. We want to help reform the gay world and build a better homosexual mentality. We want to institute Housing, Employments, Legal, and Psychological Services (HELPS) for homosexuals. We want to run gay candidates for public office. We want — well, there's so much we want to do, for there's so much that needs to be done, and we don't think it is being done (at least not well enough).

People have come to us and said "I've looked into other groups, but HI! is the one I want to be connected with." So now we'll be able to accept more of these people and add their courage, intelligence, and desire to help, to the Homosexual Renaissance, our campaign to create a beautiful gay world within a decent human world.

— L. Craig Schoonmaker
President
Homosexuals Intransigent!

WE SHALL DANCE

HI!'s first gay mixer for college students and guests takes place Saturday, March 14, 1970, at the Finley Grand Ballroom of The City College/CUNY. Press releases have been sent to almost 200 college newspapers throughout the Northeast, and we shall place ads in all newspapers of at least CUNY senior colleges. It will be a grand event — be there. See "COMING" for details. (Prices for members are lower than those noted, but our people may be asked to help from time to time.)

Our second dance, for students and nonstudents alike, will be on Saturday, April 4 (the weekend following our first anniversary!), but we're not yet sure where. We're interested in the Church of the Holy Apostles, but Rev. Weeks has had some trouble with his congregation over the number of homosexual groups using the church (four, HI! not among them) regularly.

REV. WEEKS

is planning a sermon and luncheon discussion on homosexuality, for Sunday, March 1, starting at 10:30 (a.m.), and HI! will have at least one or two representatives to talk with his congregation. Other gay people may participate, but should bring a casserole or such if they plan to stay for lunch, which is being provided thru contributions from participants.

The New Gods

It is 1980 and the new homosexual has emerged from the Seventies. No longer looked down upon as the screaming effeminate he was thought in 1970, the new homosexual is the stalwart of masculinity — tough, respected, and looked up to as a model for men. The homosexual is free. Free from restraints, free from harassment, free from discrimination.

Thru the eight decade a new phenomenon arose from the bitter struggle against society: the homosexual neighborhood, for example New York's Upper West side. Police, shopkeepers, firemen are all homosexual, and homosexuals control the churches, hospitals, etc. The emergence of this free community has brought an influx of homosexuals to Manhattan, and now, according to the 1980 census, 80 percent of the 2 million people residing there are homosexual. And there are such communities in all the other boros and even in the suburbs.

Homosexuality has come to be regarded as a higher and purer form of sexual expression. Not everyone is chosen to be homosexual, privileged to engage in such godliness. God or the gods or whatever supreme force that has created the world has created the homosexual to preserve purity on earth. The homosexual is spared the degradation of heterosexual union. He has risen above the animal instinct of reproducing the species. There is a lower form of life, the heterosexual, that indulges in such outrageous activities. This low life is more like the animals than the gods, to which homosexuals bear more resemblance. Remember, homosexuality is next to godliness.

Yes, the homosexual has come a long way; but he still has further to go. Society must pay for the abuse it has heaped upon homosexuals thru past centuries. In the next decade homosexuals must work together in becoming the ultimate union of gods. deserve, and will be worshipped in order to make society a fruitful and peaceful place to live.

— Paul Guzzardo

A LITTLE VARIETY

HI! would like to put on a variety show, a gay revue in which gay performers, both amateur and professional, perform homosexual material with an honesty and trueness to self that they cannot find in most places. Sid Marshall, a professional entertainer, heads the committee to put the show together. We need singers, dancers, comics, actors, production personnel of all categories to do a first-rate show. Our show can be scheduled for late evening to accommodate performers willing to do a benefit for HI! after their regular shows. Call Sid at [phone number, then], or leave a message for him at [other number, then] if interested.

THE SECOND CITY

(THE CITY OF THE HOMOSEXUAL)

AND PUPPY DOG TAILS
A Play by David Gaard at the Bouwerie Lane Theater.

And Puppy Dog Tails is a delightful Off-Broadway experience, hilarious and heartwarming. It is a play about people, people who feel they can find happiness only as homosexuals. It is not a simple display of nudity, nor a play just for homosexuals. Nor is it a convention of commiserating queens called so that society might have a feast of stereotyped attitudes on homosexuals.

The plot: two gay lovers, John and Carey-Lee, have established a life together. But that life is broken in upon by Bud, a straight friend of John's who comes to stay with him for a few weeks. Bud's interference threatens the relationship between the gay lovers, but they look into their love and win one of the games of life. Bud cannot understand the relationship John and Carey-Lee have built. He misunderstands the ideal of true happiness, for he cannot see beyond his own fears and the inhuman attitudes of Western society. He unconsciously sins against the life force of human love, which has left his soul crippled and unable ever to know love of any kind.

Tho John and Bud occasionally come on like soap-opera characters (more the fault of the actors than the writer, I think), Tommy, as played by Edward Dunn, is excellent at all times. John is supposed to be played by a straight actor (George Reeder), which could account for the weakness of his characterization. But the play itself is well drawn, clever, insightful lines evoking a hearty response from the audience.

And Puppy Dog Tails is well worth seeing, tho perhaps the prices are needlessly exploitive.

— Robben Borrero

[Return to Table of Contents.]

RATING THE BARS

There are good bars and bad bars. If gay people patronize the good ones and boycott the bad ones, maybe we'll end up with more good ones. That's the thought behind HI!'s Bar Rating committee. The Committee visits gay bars and evaluates them according to a number of criteria. When the Committeemen have experienced a bar at least twice, they will come up with descriptions and recommendations which will be published here in The Second City. After a while you'll have a convenient rated list from which to choose bars that suit you. If you can't wait, join our Committee to produce the ratings sooner.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN HR DO NOT NECESSARILY
REFLECT THE VIEWS OF HI!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

DAWN
          For Wade

I sit on my old lichen-covered rock in the gray stillness of pre-time absent-mindedly dunking my toes in a murmuring brook and waiting patiently for the sunrise. The numbing, enveloping mists of independence are my companions. Because of them I feel no breeze and barely hear the merriment of the water as it gently tickles the soles of my feet and gurgles between my toes.

I look up suddenly, feeling a new presence; an interrupted thought still clinging to the corners of my mind is overwhelmed by the silent beckoning of a closed white lotus plant floating in the now quiet stream.

While I gaze at the bud's hard, independent beauty, I feel the long-awaited sun dawn on my forehead. To my amazement, as the flower is warmed and penetrated by the insistent rays, she unfolds her perfect beauty and releases her heady perfume.

Hastened by a warm reassuring breeze, my cold shroud dissolves around me and I am enveloped again — this time by the silent, perfumed mystery of the Orient.

Everything around me is bathed in a warm rose mist as the hesitant sun touches the horizon. And I, like the lotus, open to the seductive mist, banishing pre-time, forever, back to the mists of darkness from which it came.

And, tranquil at last, my heart fills itself with a smile of love and understanding as it gazes upon the blossoming rosy white lotus flower.

— Jim Keels, 2/21/70

[Return to Table of Contents.]

COMING [all dates were in 1970; this section included only to give a sense of what we were up to so many years ago] [Return to Table of Contents.]

March 5, Thursday, 12:15-2:00 p.m.	Assistant Professor of Sociology Edward Sagarin (The City College/CUNY) speaks at HI!'s regular open meeting on the topic "Some Sociological Views of Homosexuality". John F. Singer and Craig Schoonmaker have both heard Sagarin's views and expect that other gay people will share their strong reaction. Questions and general discussion follow.
February 28, Saturday	Christopher Street Liberation Day Umbrella Committee's second meeting (representatives from East-Coast organizations only); V.P. Singer will attend.
March 1, Sunday, 6:30-Lordknows	Regular Sunday meeting for gay people only: Elections (full members only); Discussion on John Singer's and Anthony's experience in the "Natural Man" sensitivity weekend (February 21-23) for gay men. Also on that date, ERCHO's Unity Committee may meet; HI! will probably attend only if new format for ERCHO conferences has been ratified.
March 8, Sunday, 6:30-Lordknows	First joint off-campus meeting of men's and women's divisions.
March 8, Sunday, 9 p.m.-1 a.m. (workers at 7 p.m.)	HI!'s first GAY MIXER for northeastern colleges: Grand Ballroom of the Finley Student Center, The City College, 133rd Street and Convent Avenue in Manhattan (Broadway IRT 137th Street stop NOT IND local 135th Street stop); tickets cost $1.00 per person in advance or $1.50 at the door. Order advance tickets from Craig Schoonmaker.
April 11, Wednesday	HI!'s first anniversary!
April 3, Friday	ANNIVERSARY VARIETY SHOW (place, time, and cost to be announced).
April 4, Saturday	ANNIVERSARY DANCE (place, time, and cost to be announced).
April 4 and 5, Saturday and Sunday	ERCHO Conference (details to be announced)
June 26 and 27 (and possibly 28), Friday and Saturday (and maybe Sunday)	Christopher Street Liberation Day Activities in New York City, simultaneous demonstrations in other cities. Details to be announced.   [Return to Table of Contents.]

Queer! Faggot! Doesn't it hurt when people taunt you? Aren't you stick and tired of having to live a dual life to camouflage your homosexuality? Aren't you disgusted in having your civil rights trampled?

Homosexuals, rise up! Reverse the adverse opinion of the homosexual and tell it like it really is. Fight back! No matter what your background, religion, color, social status, etc., may be, the time has come to unite to form an organization with one common front — to put an end to discrimination against the homosexual. Speak out! In all levels of the social structure, the homosexual is an outcast. We must correct this injustice, NOW.

The homosexual minority comprises a sizable portion of our population, possibly 3 or 10 people or even more. It is extremely difficult to give statistics since to reveal oneself as a homosexual is to write one's own death warrant. Although there have been some minor improvements, the homosexual must go a long way before achieving first-class citizenship. Many people, especially males, are very antagonistic toward the homosexual. They refuse even to discuss the issue since they fear they may have similar feelings — thus the hostility.

There is a definite need for a Gay-Power movement. England and Sweden are among many nations that have led the world in achieving reforms and equal status for the homosexual. In the Victorian United States, the state of Illinois has legalized homosexuality and has instilled hope in homosexuals in other states. Throughout ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, homosexuality was prevalent. What were the results of this widespread homosexuality? Great literature; artistic masterpieces unsurpassed by any culture past or present; philosophies that have been endlessly used and reproduced; architecture that has affected civilizations century after century. Must the U.S. be fifty years ahead of the world technologically but one hundred years behind socially? When will seventeenth-century puritanism mature into obscurity and pass into history? Why must society punish the homosexual by letting him suffer for society's shameful sins committed through hypocritical virtuous guilt.

Since the landing of the pilgrims in 1620 until today, American society has been very repressive, based on ignorance and fear. This must be corrected, and one way to begin is to create a Gay-Power movement.

All homosexuals, male or female, should look into themselves, even tho it may hurt. You may discover a worthwhile human being.

First psychiatrist: You know, I think Dr. Bieber is right about homosexuality being a sickness — a lot of homosexuals come to see me, and they are all very disturbed.

Second: A lot of heterosexuals come to see me

EPISTOLARY INTERCOURSE

[Editor's note: In GAY POWER Number 10, I mentioned that we might "pressure the snack bar into getting Zebedy Colt's baritone version of 'The Man I Love' onto the jukebox." I also appealed for help of various kinds, including financial, for HI! We received this very kind letter in reply:] [Return to Table of Contents.]

I read with interest your activities in the homophile movement, and I admire your courage and industry.

I personally became disenchanted with most groups, which seemed more interested in reading their names in the paper, or gathering unsuspecting tricks in the guise of social advancement.

It is obvious that I have suffered Establishment suppression. The New York Times has refused advertising for my album because I insisted that the copy read that I was a gay singer, singing about love, and the fact that my love object was another man was nothing to get uptight about.

Little by little, my "middle of the road" simplicity is gaining ground, and soon a new Off Broadway musical, the first homosexual musical, will be coming along, and my next album of "Leather Rock" will be recorded sometime this spring.

But now, my offer to you, which I have made to various organizations and which has to date been ignored.

Libran Productions has agreed to turn any profit on my record to homophile groups that would show the industry to garner the retail profit from its sale. So any orders that come to us through HI!, simply have them mention it. They will be sent to me. I will autograph the album to the purchaser, and the profits will be tallied and sent to you directly from Libran.

Here are some 45s for any jukebox of your choice. They can't be bought, as they were only produced for promotional purposes. Accept them with my love and compliments.

In my own "square" way, I try to believe that I, too, am a part of the Homosexual Renaissance. Rock is a part of my culture, not a culture unto itself for me. I have found peace in my masculinity, and my love for another man, and instead of screaming gay power, or hiding in a crazy closet, I hope to exert power in a manner such that the "silent majority" mat at first snicker at as a not-so-funny party record, and then discover that not only am I serious, but it's really not so bad "If only he were signing about a girl", and then, hopefully, they'll forget and realize I'm singing about human beings.

Onward. Tolerance and compassion are the only areas left for pioneers. Welcome, voyager! My lover is a very talented artists, and I will use what influence I can to induce him to put some thought to your logo, etc., and if there is any way I can contribute to your newsletter, please let me know. Words of hope and courage . . .

Monetarily, the best I can do is to arrange the offer that I have coerced Libran into. To date, I have made no money at all from the record. My monetary rewards will come thru royalties from Ecco, which originally produced the album. If and when gay guys latch onto what I am really after . . . a kind of respect for the humanity and beauty of homosexual love: a kind of subliminal approach that eventually will get thru a few thick straight skulls.

May the new decade bring us all happiness.

ZEBEDY COLT
Stockton, New Jersey

[We gratefully accept Mr. Colt's gracious offer and encourage all our readers who would like to buy Colt's I'll Sing for You to buy it thru us. Just send us $5.15 (pay to the order of Libran Productions) and your name and address, and we'll pass along your order.

We bought the album ourselves before we got this letter and we can recommend it as a valuable contribution to the Homosexual Renaissance. Most of our group would much have preferred a rock album to the old standards recorded. And Mr. Colt should avoid some of the extreme histrionics that mar a couple of the record's bands. But when he is comfortably in his range and relaxed, his voice is reminiscent of Johnny Mathis' (at his worst, however, he sounds more like Jerry Lewis). We look forward to his "Leather Rock" album and recommend I'll Sing for You for purchase.

We wonder if Zebedy Colt would be willing to appear in our variety show, presently scheduled for April 3 but reschedulable. Well, it can't hurt to ask.

*

Somebody reads us, even the back pages: in HR Number 1 I attached the Student Homophile League of New York University and its chairwoman, calling her "Superdike". At the Christopher Street Liberation Day Umbrella Committee meeting February 8, a number of people made reference to "Superdike" (including Superdike herself). And we received a letter from an SHL-NYU member which appears below in edited form. My comments appear in double brackets and italics [[comment]].

IN DEFENSE OF SHL-NYU

In your editorial "Shall We Dance?" you attacked SHL-NYU and Ellen Broidy in reaction to our decision not to co-sponsor a dance with HI! Despite any antagonism to you, our decision was based on a consideration of organizational ideologies.

Your first objection to was that it has a unitary membership — men and women together — and that it uses the word homophile. We're interested in mankind, men and women. Part of SHL's purpose is to educate homosexuals and heterosexuals alike about our attitudes toward ourselves, toward other oppressed minorities, and toward society in general. We're trying now to define our organization [SHL-NYU is almost 2 years old]. We need every voice that wants to be heard to tell us where it's at and where SHL-NYU should be. [HI! has both joint meetings and separate meetings for men and women; we will reach everybody; they will reach only people willing to attend joint meetings.]

You wrote of our "manifest unconcern not merely with the bulk of members but with the bulk of homosexuals as well." [SHL-NYU is "not psychologically oriented" they say.] SHL is very concerned, concerned enough to come together to talk and work. We express no scorn. We tell no one he is "some kind of shitface or psycho" [quote refers to people uptight about the opposite sex; SHL's structure is a standing rebuke to these people]. SHL is for all members of the NYU community who have pride as human beings. [Then it is not a homosexual organization; nor will it reach people with low self-esteem.]

Your second objection is that meetings are openly publicized, and thus heterosexuals are free to attend. You fear this will scare away uptight homosexuals. Yet you say, "a homosexual organization should encourage homosexuals to acknowledge their homosexuality not only to themselves but also to anyone else who may inquire". [Encourage, not force. HI! has both open and closed meetings.] We realize that an adjustment to pride and openness takes time. For that reason we allow pseudonyms. But they're not necessary. We don't demand last names, anyway. Names don't matter; it's the people. [Names do matter; a pseudonym is a lie, and lies work against self-respect.]

In your organization, people must sign their names and pledge "to answer any question about their sexuality and true identity directed to them by anyone at any time" to have voting rights. Where, then, is the place for "every type of homosexual" you say there should be? [Nonvoters can and do speak but do not set policy. Voting members do listen.] SHL-NYU asks for no pledge. No member is bound in any way. If he has pride, that's enough: He'll act to defend his pride. [People act as they are expected to act. A new peer group can institute new expectations to counter negative past expectations. And people with little pride must be helped attain it by being helped to commit themselves and live their commitment.]

Your fourth objection is that Ellen Broidy, a woman, chairs our meetings. [My fourth objection was that SHL-NYU was utterly dominated by its chairwoman even tho it claims to listen to everyone. My voice is only one of many; Ellen Broidy's was one of one (and maybe a half).] Must every female who exercises leadership be termed a female chauvinist and, if gay, a superdike? She and SHL-NYU told you "No" on the dance issue. You've made the matter emotional; you have been told "No" by a woman!! [Superdike is noxious not because she is a lesbian but because she is a female chauvinist. She attacked me at the ERCHO Conference of November 1969 because I opposed homosexual organizations getting involved in the abortion controversy, for that could split our memberships into hostile groups for the benefit of heterosexuals. Ellen Broidy wanted to censure me for my view that abortion is murder — and no, I am not Catholic. Lesbians do not get pregnant, so Ellen Broidy was reacting as a woman (female-chauvinist variety), not a lesbian.]

We weren't saying, "No, L. Craig schoonmaker, we shall not dance with you." We were saying that the principles your organization represents clash with ours. What we stand for, we dance for. [SHL-NYU still hasn't had its dance; ours is March 14th.]

In all fairness, I must admit that what you saw was a group of 10 quiet men and one outspoken woman. That's been our biggest problem this year. We've let Ellen do all the work. The membership have yet to see SHL as their own organization. [Within recent weeks, HI! has stopped being my organization and has become our organization; that change took a while, but it has happened sooner with HI! than with SHL-NYU because HI! was designed for its members. We've made no demands of SHL and have gotten no special results.

Some of our ideals aren't so different, HI!'s and SHL's. Our methods, tho, differ too greatly, and that's sad. Unity is necessary for the entire movement. We must take the time to try to understand one another. We are brothers and sisters.

THOMAS R. MOHAN
New York, New York

[I sincerely believe that SHL is very badly conceived and could best serve its constituents by revising its structure to approximate HI!'s. I don't advocate this merely because I personally designed HI! Rather, I designed HI! very carefully to meet the needs as I perceived them, and still perceive them. HI! is working — and working well. There is room in HI! for all SHL types; there is not room in SHL for all HI! types. I invite all our SHL brothers and sisters (including Superdike — we're paying $18 extra just for a matron so we can have girls at our dance) to come to our dance and join HI! As for the term "Superdike", I should think Ellen Broidy would be flattered by that appellation; I'd be ecstatic if somebody sincerely dubbed me "Superfag." We at HI! believe that all gay people should belong to at least one gay group and we'd welcome members who continue as members of SHL too.] [Return to Table of Contents.]

Concerned citizen: "They'd better catch that broad!"

RESEARCHERS NEED HELP

Ralph Blair, Director of Counseling at New York City Community College/CUNY wants to know what services or facilities gay people feel they should have on campus. His questionnaire takes about 5 minutes to complete.

And Dr. Marvin Siegelman of The City College/CUNY is making a cross-cultural study of basic personality patterns of homosexuals and heterosexuals. His questionnaires take about 1 1/2 hours to complete.

If you'd like to help either of these ANONYMOUS studies, contact us and we'll get the questionnaires to you.

Remember, only information can dispel inaccurate stereotypes.

Homosexuality is a form of love.*

Love is beautiful.

Homosexuality is beautiful. (*Hiafol — equals Aloha.) HIAFOL.

— LCS

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