Homosexuality In America,” -- or-- How I found out I was “gay” at age 16, 1964.

[MikeW]

Within the next couple of pages I began to read about gay men who were hiding . . .

There are many homosexuals . . . who behave like solid members of the community. They hold good jobs in business, the professions or the arts. Many of them have apparently strong heterosexual relationships, get married and have children. They go to church, engage in civic activity, see their psychiatrists. They are there in unmeasured numbers, involved to some degree in homosexuality. The only difference between them and the “straight” world is the fear of exposure and their troubled consciences.

And then . . .

There are also the “respectable” homosexuals who pair off and establish a “marriage,” often transitory but sometimes lasting for years. Unburdened by children and with two incomes, they frequently enjoy a standard of living they otherwise would not be able to attain . . .

So, wow, there are gay guys who out of fear or whatever get married and have kids and act like “normal” straight people and there are other gay men who pair off and build lives together. Fascinating! WHO KNEW!! Certainly not me! :eek:

Then the article starts talking about “homophile organizations ” Yet one more thing I’d never heard of . . .

A recent phenomenon in American society, the homophile groups actively conduct programs to increase public understanding of homosexuality in the hope of getting more sympathetic treatment, particularly from law enforcement agencies.

In this context they mention the Mattachine Society, an organization that, a couple years later after dropping out of college and facing getting drafted, would have a very big influence on my life. I may tell that story too one of these days . . .

One of the earliest and most active homophile clubs, the Mattachine Society, was started in 1950 as a secret organization by a group of Los Angeles lawyers, ministers and doctors, not all of whom were homosexuals. But by 1954 it had become incorporated as a nonprofit, educational group and branches had spread to other cities . . .

So, for me, this was the beginning awareness that there was a “political” force at work here. I was beginning to learn that there were gay men and women (almost no mention of lesbians in this article at all) who were “organizeing” themselves. The civil rights movement of African Americans for equality was very much apart of that social “millieu”. But the turmoil that would be the hallmark of the 1960s -- not to mention the Stonewall riots -- was still a few years away.

To be continued . . .