THE LADDER DECEMBER 1961 50i Deoember I 96I purpose of the ik e LoiddeJi Volume 6, H u aber 3 Published monthly by the Daughters of BMItls, Inc., o non­ profit corporation, 1232 Market Street, Suite 108, Son Fran­ 9^ BILITIS cisco 2, Californio. Telephone: UNderhill 3 — 8196. A WOMES’S ORGANIZATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROMOTING NATIONAL OFFICERS, DAUGHTERS OF BILITIS, INC. THE INTEGRATION OP THE HOMOSEXUAL INTO SOCIETY BY: President — Jaye Bell Pice President — Helen Sanders ................ Recording Secretary — Dottle Dec Corresponding Secretary — Chris Hayden Public Relations Director — Jo Carson Treasurer — Ev Howe THE LADDER 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 — Clco 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 organisation. 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 tioned; through dissemination of educational literature on the homosexual theme. Peaos on Earth - A Christmas Message by Del Martin ..........4 Christmas at the Inn - A Story by Colleen Stein ..................5 Gay Life in Holland byKarin S t o r m , 10 © Participation in research projects by duly authorized and respon­ Here emd T h e re ..................................................................................................^3 sible psychologists, sociologists and other such experts directed H air Psychology by CarolGrace...............................................................14 towards further knowledge of the homosexual. Cosmopoll'tan Provincial: O Investigation of the penal code as it pertains to the homosexual, The L ife and Works of C o le tte by Gene Damon....................l 6 Lesbiana by Gene Damon. • • • • .............- ......................................1 9 proposal of changes to provide an equitable handling of cases Mood Miscellanea....................... ........................................................ 2 2 involving this minority group, and promotion of these changes Readers Respond,,........................................................................................24 through due process of law in the state legislatures. Cover by Kathy Rogers OltfriatmaB al tifp 3tttt on lEartly (i^ooi) Will (UomariiH Mm A Story by Colleen Stein Jo Brooks s a t a t th e k itch en ta b le of her Third Avenue housekeeping room, moodily pondering the downward course A fervent prayer, a fervent desire. Beautiful words, which her life had taken in recent years, A rather pa­ meaningful words, powerful words. Handed down from gen­ thetic creature in her late forties, Jo was still fairly eration to generation - century by century. attractive, but the effects of her heavy drinking and fast living were beginning to etch themselves upon her Words mouthed in the Joy of Chrlstmastlde, then lost in features. Jo had formerly been a schoolteacher, but the sourry of everyday living. Words unheeded as the hate her increasing dependence upon the bottle had reduced groups line up and spit at each other. Words silenced by her to working at any odd Job she could find. the vigil of the bomb. At one time, Jo had been considered a "prize catch" in affairs of the heart, but each affair was always short­ We must not allow the atomic ago to succumb to the nega­ lived and always ended in the same way, with her lovers tive, destructive unreasoning of hopelessness. We must leaving Jo because of her overpowering stinginess, a realize that as we expect to be persecuted, so shall we trait of nearly psychotic proportions. be persecuted - and prosecuted. As we prepare for war, even though we call it defense, we bring war ever oloser. Christmas Eve had arrived, and Jo Brooks, quite alone and As we listen to the voice of doom, so shall we be doomed. almost friendless, was beginning to feel remorseful over It is the law of the "self-fulfilling propheoy". What we the many selfish deeds which had placed her in such a project shall come to pass. lo n ely s t a t e . She was not one to e a s ily give way to tears, and when the oppressive weight of her loneliness For we are products of our own words - our own thoughts began to swell to Intolerable porportions, she took and beliefs. And what we are can be changed, for by our another swig from her gallon Jug of wine, and thought: own words and actions we can alter our relations with our "Oh, hell, why work myself into a tizzy on Christmas Eve? fellow man. As we act with kindness and understanding, I ’ll go look up some of my pals. Maybe they can cheer me as we truly listen to the other fellow’s side of the sto­ up,II Yet, as she ran through her mental catalog of friends, ry, so shall we be heard with kindness and understanding. the realization that she no lönger had any close friends who would welcome her in to t h e i r homes h it her lik e a ton When the individual begins to re-evaluate himself and his of b r ic k s , f o r th a t holy n ig h t when th e f e a s t of Our L ord's thoughts, when he sees that he is an Important cog In the birth Is celebrated can be the loneliest night of the year 'Srheel of peace", that his thoughts auid actions are re­ for those without families or friends. flected by the leaders he elects, that what his country projects in the community of nations are what he himself Still stunned by her realization, Jo took several more has accepted — whether positively or by omission — then hearty swallows from her Jug, then decided te head for perhaps there can again be the nearest movie theater and escape for a few hours from the asrful loneliness which engulfed her. "Peace on Sarth, Good Will Toward Uen", Since it was Christmas, Jo replaced her usual garb of - Del Martin faded blue Jeans and sweat shirt with her one remaining b*3t suit, a doifdy-lcoking affair which had bwen quite stylish in 1948, and traded her beaten-up snickers for A nearly-deserted bar with two customers now planted It­ a pair of sturdily-bulld pumps which seemed grotesquely self in Jo's dreams, the two customers being old compan­ thick when placed beside today's toothplok-sllra spike ions of Jo's# They were talking over old times and remi­ models* However, the outfit was the best that Jo had niscing over past Chrlstmasses# One of the women was and after she had finished dressing, her spirits perked showing the other a newspaper clipping, "Too bad# Won­ up a b it# der If old Jo left any sort of will# She ought to have a mint horded up somewhere, the way she always drank nothing Jo Brooks' one-room apartment was located In the shoddy but d r a f t beer# Always a fr a id sh e'd spend a dime on some­ waterfront district, and the nearest theater was of the one else, the old tightwadj" Jo got a better view of the all-night, three-for-the-prloe-of-one variety; Iv other clipping and noticed a photograph above the notice. As words, just another place for the Skid row bums to flop she sq u in ted more c lo s e ly at the photograph In the dim for a few hours# This, however, no longer bothered Jo, light of the bar, she saw her own face In the picture# and she paid her admission and entered the theater# Ironically enough, Dickens' "Christmas Carol" was one of Jo awakened with a start, while the movie was in the midst the three features playing, but Jo was oblivious to this, of a scene where Ebenezer Scrooge visits the mortuary and for the wine which she had been drinking earlier In the realizes with horror that the body lying in the coffin Is evening began to make her drowsy, and shortly after the his, then seconds later witnesses his own mournerless burial Service. movie oame on the screen, she drifted Into a wine-soaked slumber. Yet, the substeuioe of the movie was not entirely lo s t on her# A feeling of terror gripped Jo as she hastily left the theater, and she felt almost as though an unseen force were propelling her toward one of her old haunts, the Bayslde II Inn, a place which Jo had not frequented for the past two y e a rs . Uany happy events in her childhood began Creeping into Jo's dreams, events mostly associated with Christmas; I l l the roaring fire In the living room fireplace, the pine- Recent years had found New Boston caught up In a wave of scented smoke from the burning wood, the presents under revamping Its waterfront district. Thanks to the city's the tre e , the pageantry and splendor of Uldnlght Mass Urban Renewal project, which was still far from being com­ with it s added tre a t of old, trad itio n al o a ro ls, the up­ lifting feeling which Jo aj^ierlBnoed during Mass - all p le te d , th e grim y, d e r e lic t c h a ra c te r of the West Side these things caused pangs of nostalgia to float Into her Waterfront was rapidly changing into a vast, beautifully- subconscious mind# landscaped shopping mall, complete with several luxury hotels and the Llewellyn Center, which was second In size Gradually, Jo's dreams skipped ahead to more recent years, only to Its twin across the river, the Lloyd Center, re­ and she found herself dreaming of a beery blast down at putedly the world’s largest shopping center.