Court Asked to Void Homosexual Laws

CINCINNATI (P) Five homosexual Cincinnati men filed suit in U.S. District Court yesterday asking that city and state laws prohibit ing homosexual behavior be declared unconstitutional

The suit also asks for an injunction barring law offieers from enforcing the laws in question.

The suit said the plaintiffs were adult male homosexuals who "desire to engage in consensual homosexual conduct with other males of like sexual orientation in the privacy of their homes or in other locations equally private, including acts normally considered unnatural and prohibited by state sodomy laws."

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THE PLAINTIFFS also asked to be permitted to solicit other homosexuals and to wear female clothing, both of which are prohibited by the Cincinnati Municipal

Code.

The action alleged that the laws that abridge freedom of private sexual activities were in violation of the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

They said the laws also subject the plaintiffs to police harassment, stigmatize them as lawbreakers and burden them in seeking and retaining employment.

They also asked that the suit be considered a class action for all Cincinnati homosexuals.