Ed Raiden
257 S. Spring St.
Los Angeles, Calif. 90012
Dear Ed Raiden:
Phyllis Ziffren Deutsch told me in February of 1964 when I first went to her for legal advice concerning ONE’s elections and the strange behavior of its directors, that founders of such a movement as the homosexual is now engaged in, because of the nature of their persons, usually kill each other off or are eliminated by their followers and officers when they get in the way of progress. I suppose something like this is what is happening to Dorr Legg and myself right now. I am not sorry to be a casualty to progress if this be the end result, although I can’t say that I have not tried to keep up with the changes that have benefited the lot of the homosexual since the founding of ONE, and of which we were very much apart. I feel that I am still entirely useful and up-to-date.
However, I do agree that new blood is needed, even though I don’t see it anywhere about. Certainly the followers of Dorr Legg are weak. And though I love them all, those about me are little better. For instance, Joe and Jane Hansen think of ONE only as a magazine. They find it somehow interesting and delusively enticing to edit and publish and write for this semi-arty magazine. They consider far less the propaganda aspects of ONE than the aesthetic principles having to do with its production.
The heart of ONE lies with the Sheriff. That is why I was so panicky when I could not raise $20,000 in liquid assets. Yet Jane and many others have told me that the material in the Sheriff’s hands is not worth getting up a bond for—that it does not amount to much. And this common attitude is the one part of this unfortunate drama that continues to distress me. I suppose that only Dorr Legg can understand that ONE is not just a magazine. The founders acted as editors not because we found ONE Magazine interesting or glamorous but only because a periodical seemed to be the most productive way of spotlighting for society (heterosexual and homosexual alike) its infantile attitudes and laws regarding sexual relationships. Sex between consenting adults in private is not the business of the state; you cannot legislate morals; homosexuality is not, per se, morally degenerate or neurotic. Because we believed these things and were bold enough to say them at a time when few others were doing so, ONE Inc. has literally helped thousands of persons with problems, either real or imaginary, having to do with their sex lives. The homosexual had no one to turn to before ONE. There was no homophile press before ONE, although now there are over 20 publications actively devoted to the field. Laws have been changed, and between now and 1969 our own state legislature will be updating California penal code in this regard. The point to all this is that what the Sheriff has in his possession is the record of much of it: case histories, legal rulings and determinations, the records and writings of individuals, the publications of organizations working with the subject, books and incunabula of homosexuality. If ONE has any assets this is it. Damn the future of its publications, but the fate of this material is important.
I had always imagined that when I gave up the battle lines, I would retires to a place where I might organize and digest the material collected, and produce some sort of worthwhile result. There ought to be some way possible still to achieve this end.
Regards,
Don Slater
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August 15, 1965