The Homosexual In Our Society

α

The transcript of a program broadcast on November 24, 1958 by radio station KPFA-FM, Berkeley 4, California. The program was rebroadcast in Los Angeles over station KPFB-FM and in New York over station WBAI-FM during 1959. The program consisted of two one-hour sections and this is the first. The second will be printed in the August REVIEW.

The speakers on the first program were:

HAROLD L. CALL, Editor of the MATTACHINE REVIEW BLANCHE M. BAKER, M. D., Psychiatrist

MRS. LEAH GAIL EY

The discussion was moderated by:

ELSA KNIGHT THOMPSON, Public Affairs Dept., KPFA

MODERATOR: Mr. Call, I think we'll begin with our first questions directed toward you. You are editor, I believe, of the Mattachine REVIEW, which is a publication put out by the Mattachine Society. Is that correct? Could you tell us something about what the Mattachine Society is and what its general purposes are?

MR. CALL: Yes, the Mattachine Society is an incorporated, non-profit organization that is engaged in examining and doing something about the problems that face the homosexual in our country today.

MODERATOR: Is it confined to the San Francisco area, or is it a national publication, and society?

MR. CALL: Well, it is a membership organization that is actually spread thinly now, from coast to coast. The magazine is national,-in fact, it circulates also in 18 foreign countries.

MODERATOR: And approximately how many members are there in the Mattachine Society?

MR. CALL: Right now we have about 117 members; probably by the end of the year that will increase to 150. The interest in our subject is very great, but people are quite loathe to join. All of the members are over 21 years of

age.

12

mattachine REVIEW

MODERATOR: But, the magazine itself would have a wider coverage than

that?

MR. CALL: Yes, indeed, it circulates about 2500 copies each monthly issue.

MODERATOR: And the purposes are, as you state them, to bring about a bétter understanding of the problem of the person who is classified by our society as a homosexual?

MR. CALL: Yes, that is the primary purpose. Actually the interest in this field that the Mattachine has extends to include other forms of sex variation, particularly those forms of varied sex behavior that we believe do, not constitute any real harm to our social order.

MODERATOR: Now, there are many ways in which this subject could be discussed. One, I would say, broadly speaking, is the problem of the individual who falls into this category. And the other is the problem of what society's attitude toward that individual should ideally be. Would the members of the panel agree with that?

ALL: Yes, yes,-you are. right, etc.

13