tries where the law concerning relationships between consenting male adults has been removed, are much more easily handled than in those countries still under the pressure of an inhumane and out-dated law. However, I disagree also with the statement that the social side of our activities is too intimate a problem to be dealt with group-wise. Justification for doing things group-wise lies. for The Circle, in the unequivocal success our big meetings have met with for nearly twenty-five years now. It goes without saying, that the path The Circle has been following, in its social activities, has had its thorny side too --and still has to some extent. Yet the positive factors by far outweigh their opposites.

Before coming to a description of our Yearly Christmas Party, I would like to point out the small negative matters first. They are not created by the fact that they happen at exclusively homophile meetings. In any crowd of several hundred, whether homophile or "straight", you will always be liable to encounter some less desirable elements. There are the "gate-crashers" first of all. But. by checking our Subscribers and their guests three times before admittance is granted, the danger of "gatecrashers" as well as the attendance of minors, is practically removed. That we have frequently to deal with the eternally discontended ones. with the "know-betters", or, on the other hand, with some less desirable or questionable elements, is also typical of "straight" parties. Looking back on years of checking at our big meetings, I am glad to be able to report that the standard of our socials has risen considerably in the course of the years, due primarily to the fact of having in the person of Rolf, our chief-editor, someone whose personality is strong enough to make itself felt. We thereby eliminate many of the pitfalls which

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might otherwise occur at such big gatherings.

One could vividly describe all that takes place either at the yearly 'Carnival', or, the 'Autumn Gathering'. Let if suffice to mention here the fact that these two occasions usually draw an attendance of anything between 450 and 600 people. Like all our Circle meetings, they take place in rooms at a restaurant in Zurich which The Circle has occupied during the reign of four different landlords. For our weekly meetings on Wednesday night we meet in rooms on the first floor. On the occasion of the big parties we take over the whole second floor where a huge room runs the whole length of the house, giving ample space for dancing. But the greatest advantage of this huge second floor room is that it contains a stage, complete with all technical details, and thus enables us to produce our yearly plays. It was on this stage that the first act of James Barr's Game of Fools was produced for the first time. The same stage saw the dramatization, by the author, of one of "Stornoway's" best stories and for next Autumn we have scheduled an adaptation of Clarkson Crane's story "Auna Anna and Uncle Joe". which appeared first in the pages of ONE. Naturally this stage is also used for the extensive "floor-shows" in Autumn and at Carnival time.

As entertaining and amusing as these two big meetings are, readers of ONE may ask: what makes them different from the yearly Christmas Party? For there is a difference and in my own opinion, a fairly great one. I am inclined to say, that, whereas each of our big yearly social events has its special flavour. the spirit of the Christmas Party is, for many of our Subscribers, the one they like best. Like its two predecessors in the course of the year, this meeting also covers a Saturday night as well as the following Sunday afternoon and night. It is

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