Conference

cluding Americans for Democratic Action and the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, are supporting recently introduced House Bills 2524 and 2525 in the State Legislature.

The bills would extend the protection of the civil rights laws to gay women and men.

State Rep. Barney Frank, who introduced the bills, told the group that although they have a good chance of passing the state senate, it will take several more years of lobbying before the civil rights laws will pass the house.

Frank and other leaders of the discussion agreed that politicians would not take action until convinced that their constituents support civil rights for gays.

Speakers stressed the importance of mass education and noted that a legislator would regard as few as six letters on the subject as a public opinion landslide.

John Grays, a professor of philosophy at MIT who has revealed his homosexuality to students and colleagues, said for him an important effect of gay liberation was personal self-acceptance, with pride replacing shame or fear of oppression.

Satya, a worker on the Gay Community News, a Boston newspaper, said that the gay movement, like the women's movement and the New Left, has been strongest among urban, middle-class students and ex-students. He urged the conference to broaden the movement to include under-represented working-class and rural gays.