HOMOSEXUAL PROSECUTIONS
Sut,—Largely owing to your efforts and those of other liberal-minded journals, • the persecution of homosexual people is entering upon a new and milder phase. It is none the less cruel. Some two years ago I addressed you with details of a particularly bad case in rural Somerset. I am proud to remember that as a direct result of that letter, the Homosexual Law Reform Society was formed. It seems to have per- suaded rainy authorities—why do lawyers never see the defects of their own laws?—that it is not only cruel, but ridiculous to lock up homosexuals together in close confinement. Instead, this, sort of thing now happens: A friend of mine gave a lift to two men who sat in the hack of his car. What took place there I do not know, but after police spies had appeared on the scene in a powerful and expensive limousine, a fine and binding-over were imposed upon them. My friend, who was never accused of taking any part in the affair, not charged with being an accessory. He pleaded not guilty. For months the usual long and costly trials followed, ending with days of argument at Quarter Sessions, and a two and a half hour re- tirement of the jury. During this protracted period the accused understandably rather lost his head, and tried to commit suicide. He was for some time in hospital at the public expense. He was then found guilty and fined £10. The cost of all this to the State must have been several thousand pounds and we have the spectacle of a large number of presumably intelligent and highly paid men occupying themselves for days considering whether or not a man permitted an offence said to take place all the time at some schools, and sometimes at all schools. What will posterity think of us? If anybody really wants to know how childish we are I will take him to a public convenience in Bristol where a mirror is fixed to the ceiling so that a Pollee spy may stand outside and see what is going °H within. As any passing woman or child can take the place of the police, I complained to them, but no notice was taken, and this entertainment is still available to the citizens of Bristol.—Yours faithfully, R. D. REID 8 Chamberlain Street. Wells
Previous page
