In 1961, four years after losing his job as a U. S. Army astronomer on account of his homosexuality, 36-year-old Frank Kameny saw his latest appeal against the dismissal rejected by the Supreme Court. However, the decision only strengthened his commitment to the wider cause: Kameny went on to become a major figure in the gay rights movement and spent the rest of his life as a full-time activist. The following letter was written to Congressman Paul C. Jones, in an effort to spread the word about the Mattachine Society.
House of Representatives,
Washington 25, D. C.
Dear Mr. Jones:
Enclosed, for your interest and information, is a formal statement of the purpose of the Mattachine Society of Washington, a newly-formed organization, devoted to the improvement of the status of our country's 15,000,000 homosexuals.
Included, also, is a copy of our news release, which was submitted to the Washington newspapers and others, and to the various press services.
The question of homosexuality, and the prejudice against it, both personal and official, is a serious one, involving, as it does, more than one out of every ten American citizens, including roughly a quarter-million in, each, the Federal Civil Service, the Armed Forces, and secutiry-sensitive positions in private industry, and at least 10% of your constituents.
We feel that the government's approach is archaic, unrealistic, and inconsistent with basic American principles. We feel, in addition, that it is inexcusably and unnecessarily wasteful of trained manpower and of the taxpayers' money.
We realize that this area presents you with many potential problems, some of them quite subtle and touchy ones of politics and public relations, and that they are not always subject to easy solution, but policies of repression, persecution, and exclusion will not prove to be workable ones in the case of this minority, any more than have, throughout history, in the case of other minorities. This is a problem which must be worked with, constructively, not worked against, destructively, as is now the case. A fresh approach by the Federal government is badly needed.
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House of Representatives,
Washington 25, D. C.
Dear Mr. Jones:
Enclosed, for your interest and information, is a formal statement of the purpose of the Mattachine Society of Washington, a newly-formed organization, devoted to the improvement of the status of our country's 15,000,000 homosexuals.
Included, also, is a copy of our news release, which was submitted to the Washington newspapers and others, and to the various press services.
The question of homosexuality, and the prejudice against it, both personal and official, is a serious one, involving, as it does, more than one out of every ten American citizens, including roughly a quarter-million in, each, the Federal Civil Service, the Armed Forces, and secutiry-sensitive positions in private industry, and at least 10% of your constituents.
We feel that the government's approach is archaic, unrealistic, and inconsistent with basic American principles. We feel, in addition, that it is inexcusably and unnecessarily wasteful of trained manpower and of the taxpayers' money.
We realize that this area presents you with many potential problems, some of them quite subtle and touchy ones of politics and public relations, and that they are not always subject to easy solution, but policies of repression, persecution, and exclusion will not prove to be workable ones in the case of this minority, any more than have, throughout history, in the case of other minorities. This is a problem which must be worked with, constructively, not worked against, destructively, as is now the case. A fresh approach by the Federal government is badly needed.
Read more.....
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