Oct. 1961, Vol. 06 No. 01

THE LADDER i i l i T O i E ANNIVERSARY EDITION OCTOBER 1961 • 50< Ootober y^pvrpose of the t h e La d d êX Volume 6, Number 1 Publlihad monthly by tha Doughtara of BIIIIU, Inc., a non- pioflt corporation, 1232 Morkat Straaf, Suita 108, Son Fron- b i l i t i s claco 2, Californio. Talaphone; UNdarhill 3 _ 8196. NATIONAL OFFICERS, DAUGHTERS OF BILITIS, INC. A IfOAieN'V ORGASIZATION FOR THE PURPOSE OP PROMOTING THE INTEGRATION OF THE HOMOSEXUAL INTO SOCIETY BY : _ President — Jaye Bell -........ Vice President — Helen Sanders Recording Secretary — Dottie Dee Corresponding Secretary — Chris Hayden ......... Public Relations Director — Jo Carson Treasurer — Ev Howe THE UDDER STAFF Editor — Del Martin O Education of the variant, with particular emphasis on the psych Assistant Editor — Elaine Kingston ological, physiological and sociological aspects, to enable her Los Angeles Reporter — Sten Russell to understand herself and make her adjustment to society in all Production Manager — Patty Patterson its social, civic and economic implications— this to be accomp Circulation Manager — Cleo Glenn lished by establishing and maintaining as complete a library as possible of both fiction and non-fiction literature on the sex de THE LADDER is regarded as a sounding board for various points of view on the homophile and related subjects and viant theme; by sponsoring public discussions on pertinent sub does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the organization. jects to be conducted by leading members of the legal, psychiat ric, religious and other professions; by advocating a mode of be havior and dress acceptable to society. 0 Education of the public at large through acceptance first of the individual, leading to an eventual breakdown of erroneous taboos and prejudices; through public discussion meetings aforemen DOB'S Anniversary Message from the President, . 4 tioned; through dissemination of educational literature on the For Want of a Chance........................................................................... 10 homosexual theme. Bergler on the A ir..... ..................... «14 TV Critics Praise 'Rejected'.... .......................... 17 © Participation in research projects by duly authorized and respon DOB Convention H ighlights.................................................................20 sible psychologists, sociologists and other such experts directed E d ito rial - Don S l a t e r . ...............................................................21 towards further knowledge of the homosexual. Here and T h e re............................. ..,.2 2 Lesb lan a.,................................••.•••••••23 Investigation of the penal code as it pertains to the homosexual, Readers Re spend,..........................••«•••«•••24 proposal of changes to provide an equitable handling of cases involving this minority group, and promotion of these changes Cover by Mell through due process of law in the state legislatures. Granted, all the organizations together are never going to be able to gather up all the ones who seem compelled to flaunt their homosexuality at society and, shall we say, DOB ANNIVERSARY "show them the b etter l i f e , " but slowly emd surely we can MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT help slow down the breeding of th is defiance. How? There are several ways now and more w ill become evident in the fu tu re . One, of course, is through a ll our publication s, The Daughters of B illtls has oompletad six years of »hat trying to show thè importance of all homosexuals' using we fe e l to be progressive work In the homophile movement, discretion - not conformity, but discretion. having started in 1955 with eight women; publishing our first issue of our monthly magazine, THE LADDER, in Octo But of a l l the methods of reaching the individual homosex ber, 1956; incorporating in the state of California in ual, we feel none to be more successful than that of per 1957; ^rid in 1960 growing from an organization centered sonal association. We are in a small but increasing pro in San Francisco to a nation-wide organization with chap portion reaching more and more individuals in this way ters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey, through our chapters throughout the country. We believe with a possibility of two more chapters coming up soon. that one of the first axioms for social acceptance is self acceptance. Where better to start finding self-acceptance The purposes of the Daughters of B ilitis are, in short, than in a group of people who are themselves in varying education of the variant, with particular emphasis on the stages of finding their own self-acceptemoe through group psychological, physiological and social aspects, to enable acceptance. This applies particularly to the younger peo her to understand herself and make an adjustment to society ple coming up. These are the people we must be aware of in a l l i t s s o c ia l, c iv ic and economic im plication s; educa if we wish to stop the breeding of defiance toward society. tion of the public; participation in research; and investi Where do they go first to make contacts with other homosex gation of the penal code. uals? The bars, of course. Bars have their place, yes, We feel that much of our progress in the movement has ne but only the people with real strength can fight their way cessarily filled the gap which ONE and Mattachine do not out of the example they see there that reeks of defiance, disillusionment, and despair. The defiance, disilluslonmontj particularly cover In their work, namely that of; 1, pay ing particular attention to the individual homosexual; 2, and d esp air, we a l l know, lie there under the mask of "ga In stig a tin g our own research on the homosexual; and 3i iety" which the nucleus of habituais at the bars put on. offering the most complete répertoriai coverage of the Some have been so long on the underside of the coin that they are afraid of the side toward the sun. But for those homophile movement I t s e l f . who want i t , l e t ' s tr y showing i t to them. And while there Although Mattachine and ONE have both accomplished much in are many we won't be able to reach, we can at least stop the broad field of acceptance for the homosexual, we feel some of this antagonism toward society - which profits no the possibilities here are definitely limited if the indi one. By the sunny side of the coin I am simply referring vidual homosexual is lost in the shuffle. For while we to the place in society each person C6tn fin d and enjoy, re are busy trying to teach the public that the homosexuals gardless of sexual preference, when he learns that home they see causing a problem are only a small part of the l i f e and public l i f e mix lik e o il and water - and w ill do whole homosexual population, this minority is still the BO for a long time to come. representation the public sees. This is in many ways like trying to teach a child to eat liver by telling him how Perhaps some may feel we are advocating conformity, We are, tasty it can be, while all the liver you set in front of when i t comes to common courtesy to those who are yet so him to eat is burnt, pan-fried offerings. He Just isn’t uneducated that homosexuals strike as much fear in them as going to be very well convinced. do child molesters, dope addicts, the mentally ill, etc. This is outward conformity, the same outward conformity de the first research project done on this scale on Lesbians manded of numerous groups of people who are in p osition s on a non-cllnical basis. foreign to the public at large. For instance, the ex-con vict, the alcoholic or the conscientious objector. All The re s u lts of th is study were published in our September, these people, and many more, must refrain from talking to 1959 is s u e . There are of course certain weaknesses, such the majority of society of parts of their lives lest they as the absence of a control group. Also this was naturally put themselves under the heel of many social pressures. a self-selected group answering the questionnaire. This To do other than conform outwardly would hurt them person project was not done with the presumption of its being ally and be of no avail until the public is better informed. equal to any similar studies done by persons with profes sional tra in in g but rather i t was hoped by our in itia t in g Conformity in one’s personal life is euiother matter. As such a study that: 1, we could gather general data on Les stated above, one of the principal things we are working bians not likely to come to the attention of the public or for is individual self-acceptance. It is also true that professional researchers; 2, to gain an idea of the extent anyone who has r e a lly found h is own self-acceptance does of response from such questionnaires by our subscribers; not need to seek approval or defiantly display himself to 3, to gain experience in framing and handling such ques society, be he homosexual or heterosexual. tio n n aire s; and 4, to stimulate interest by publication of results so as to encourage further research, Because of our view that d iscretio n can sometimes be the b etter part of v a lo r, we are often considered weak in our We further extended our research by publishing the results action.

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