THE written word is and always will be TIME'S primary concern. Yet many stories can only be told in pictures--and told best in color. Ever since 1951, TIME'S Art section has regularly featured a color story ranging anywhere from Claes Oldenburg's Pop objects to four pages on the churches of Soviet Russia and a ten-page spread on the Black in art down through history. At the same time, the magazine's Color Projects department has also been bringing an added dimension to news of every sort for TIME'S readers.

So far this year, Senior Editor A. T. Baker and his staff --Arnold Drapkin, Andrea Svedberg and Nancy Smith --have been responsible for 172 pages of color. In recent weeks, they have been working closely with Louis Glessmann, TIME'S new art director. Much effort, of course, is geared to fast-breaking news stories. Improved communications and technology enable TIME'S production department, headed by Charles Jackson, to close color layouts as late as Saturday morning and still meet the magazine's deadline that night. Thus TIME has featured pages of color on the Apollo 11 triumph, President Nixon's whirlwind tour of Europe and Asia, Pope Paul's African visit and the fantastic Woodstock rock festival. For TIME'S four pages of color on the Oct. 15 Viet Nam Moratorium, 46 photographers in 30 locations shot 300 rolls of film--which was edited, laid out and on its way within 24 hours.

Less immediate, but no less fascinating to those involved, were the weeks of work necessary to produce such color spreads as Morocco, the latest In resort, Normandy on the 25th anniversary of Dday, the new nude look in fashion and Venice besieged by the elements. "One of the greatest services we can render," says Baker, "is to grab a subject like oceanography or lasers, which don't instantly suggest color, and illuminate a whole area that might otherwise be buried in scientific texts." And sometimes, too, there are those subjects which suggest nothing but color--such as the rainbow-hued fall furs in Modern Living's "The Skin Game" this week.

TIME'S cover story was written by Contributing Editor Christopher Cory, researched by Madeleine Berry, reported by Ruth Galvin. Their efforts were supervised by Senior Editor Michael Demarest. It deals with one of the most delicate issues of the day: homosexuality in American society. Once taboo, it is now the subject of debate and concern. Yet, as Cory says, "Basically it is still a topic that is explained piecemeal and in polemics. Like all study about sex, large-scale homosexuality research is really just beginning. And the findings seem to knock down many of the stereotypes."

The Cover: Color-key montage by Fred Burrell. The face and figure are those of a young homosexual who agreed to pose for the photographer.

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