GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

JANUARY 28, 1994

ORDER TODAY ENJOY TOMORROW!!

FREE BONUS FILM! BIJOU'SPORNEXPRESS

with Purchase of Film or Catalog

BIJOU VIDEO'S PRICEREDUCTION

CONTINUES!

UP TO

60% OFF!

BIJOU VIDEO has lowered its prices on over 3,500 videotapes in stock!! Prices currently

range from $1795 to $4995!!

OVERNIGHT DELIVERY AS LOW AS $5.5011

1-800-932-7111

Or FAX 312-337-1270

For example, big reductions are available on classic videotapes, popular best-sellers, and recent blockbuster hits:

ALL CATALINA VIDEO TAPES REDUCED, NOW ONLY $24.95 TO $54.95 EACH: Big Guns. ..Now only $32.95

Hot Rods: The Young & the Hung 2.. Class Reunion.

What the Big Boys Eat

Windows.......

The Rites of Spring The River

Now only $32.95

SALE

...Now only $32.95

Brothers Should Do It

...Now only $32.95

The Young and the Hung..

..Now only $32.95

Sailor in the Wild....

..Now only $32.95

The Pizza Boy (He Delivers).

...Now only $32.95

ALL VIVID VIDEO FILMS REDUCED:

..Now only $22.95

Davey and the Cruisers.

..Now only $22.95

Buddy System 1

..Now only $22.95 ..Now only $22.95 ..Now only $22.95

..Now only $22.95

OTHERS REDUCED TO ONLY $19.95 EACH!!

..Now only $19.95

Blonds Do It Best..

..Now only $19.95

Boys in the Sand (Wakefield Poole).. 91/2 Inches.

..Now only $19.95

.. Now only $19.95

..Now only $19.95

The World-Renowned BIJOU VIDEO CATALOG from the Largest Catalog Mail Order Company in the World!!! The BUOU VIDEO Catalog is the most comprehensive catalog of gay male erotica in the world (over 900 pages)!! Features over 3,500 in-depth erotic reviews of films at great prices from BUOU's in-stock inventory! BUOU VIDEO, since 1978. Only $19.95, plus

$5.50 for shipping and handling. Plus you receive a $10 off certificate! (please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery)

To order by mail send check, money order, or your Visa, MC, or AmEx number (with expiration date), plus a signed statement that you are over 21, to: BIJOU VIDEO, 1363 North Wells, Chicago, IL 60610 SHIPPING: Express Overnight.

(upon availability of tape) Add $5.50 for the first tape, $1 for each additional. No US Mail shipments or shipments to P.O. Boxes. (Allow approximately three days for delivery of first-time orders.) We do not ship to MS, NC, NE, PR, TN, UT, or VI. Please include both daytime and nighttime phone numbers when placing an order.

Or call 1-800-932-7111 Or FAX 312-337-1270

Rear Window...

The Bigger the Better. Two Handfuls...

Tough Competition...

Hot Male Mechanics.

Lovers and Friends

Bulging Jockstraps....

LA. Tool & Die (Gage Brothers).. Rawhide.

Wanted (Steve Scott).

NEW!!

Now only $19.95

Hoy Tony! What's the Story? Only $49.95

Powertool..

The FalconPac Series.

All Matt Sterling Films. All Kristen Bjorn Films

Now only $39.95!!

.Now only $49.95 ea. ...Now only $54.95 ea. Now only $5495 ea

LATINO FAN CLUB FILMS: Horse Hung Hispanics. Hooked on Hispanics Spanish Harlem Knights 1.

..Now only $49.95 ..Now only $49.95 Now only $49.95

SAFE SEX

It Can Save Your

LIFE

For more information, urde to BUJOU VIDIO 1363 Wall Street

MODELO DENTAL CARE INC.

2012 W. 25th Street #720 Cleveland, Ohio 44113 Sara Nazco D.D.S. Susan J. Souffront D.D.S. (216) 687-0062

FAMILY DENTISTRY

• EMERGENCY EXTRACTIONS

• IMPLANTS COSMETIC DENTISTRY

• ROOT CANALS BRIDGES

• BLEEDING GUMS DENTURES PARTIALS

• SAME DAY DENTURE REPAIRS.

We Accept Insurance, Medicaid Card and Honor Discover Card

Office Hours By Appointment.

Ruling looks bad, but leaves 'essentially no sodomy law'

Continued from Page 1

non-action by the Texas Supreme Court," said Suzy Wager, executive director of the Texas Human Rights Foundation, "is that because these justices are elected and not appointed, politics plays an incredible part in their handing down decisions. This is an election year and three of them are up for reelection and this is a very hot potato. It's very interesting to me, but not too surprising to anybody, that they didn't reverse the lower court ruling and they didn't affirm it. They took a year to do nothing."

The decision, penned by Justice John Cornyn, a Republican, said that, when a state criminal law is challenged through a civil court proceeding, the state's highest court does not have the authority to declare that law unconstitutional just because of the court's "good intentions to do what seems 'just' or 'right'." The court can take such actions in civil cases only if the criminal law in question is both unconstitutional and is being enforced in a way that causes irreparable injury to the property rights of the parties bringing the challenge.

In Texas v. Morales, the state lawwhich prohibits only homosexual conduct— was challenged by three lesbians and two gay men. The 15-page Cornyn opinion characterized the case as a "hypothetical controversy," noting that none of these five gay activists named in the lawsuit has provided "even a single instance in which the sodomy statute has been prosecuted against conduct the [five] claim is constitutionally protected."

"[N]one of the [five] plaintiffs claims a specific instance of career or employment opportunities having been restricted by the existence of the statute; none of the plaintiffs alleges having been the victim of a hate crime, or a fear of becoming the victim of any specific threatened future event," wrote Cornyn.

Ironically, national media attention focused just two weeks ago on the brutal murder of a man in Tyler, Texas, by members of a gang who admitted they killed him because he was gay.

The majority decision also noted that the state attorney general's office has assured the courts that the sodomy statute "is not routinely enforced." Ironically, however, the attorney general did seek to preserve the law by appealing the case to the state supreme court after a lower court declared the law unconstitutional.

The Cornyn opinion acknowledged that the five gay activists argued that the statute, by its very existence, "stigmatizes them as criminals," making it more difficult for them to find employment opportunities, but the majority repeated, in a footnote, that "not one of the plaintiffs points to any specific instance of such an injury to employment, making the fashioning of any specific equitable relief [by the courts] impossible."

"A civil court," concluded Cornyn. "simply has no jurisdiction to render naked declarations of 'rights, status or other legal relationships arising under a penal statute'." Ironically again, national media attention riveted just last year to a lesbian in

Dallas, Mica England, who was rejected as a candidate for the Dallas Police force because of the existence of the state's sodomy law. It is Mica England's lawsuit which now gives this week's Texas Supreme Court decision its "silver lining," said the ACLU's Rubenstein.

Because the Texas Supreme Court has declined to rule on the merits of the question of whether the state sodomy statute is constitutional, the prevailing decision on the issue is one made in England's case. That decision was rendered by a state appeals court in February 1993 and declared the state law unconstitutional.

"This, arguably, leaves as the law of the land the England appeals court decision, which can be essentially read to mean no sodomy law," said Rubenstein. "So the silver lining in the Texas Supreme Court decision is that, although the court did not uphold the constitutionality of the sodomy law, their cowardly, spineless abdication effectuates a positive result in the end." Others agreed.

"The trial court and appeals courts decisions stand," said Kevin Cathcart, executive director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund which represented England. "But it would, obviously, have been important to have a similar verdict from the state supreme court because, conceivably, another state appeals court might later reach a different finding."

The status of the Texas law stands somewhat analogous to that of Massachusetts where, in 1974, the Massachusetts high court ruled that a law prohibiting "lewd" conduct would stay on the books but could be applied only in cases of non-consensual sodomy. A second sodomy law in that state, however, has not been ruled on, said Cathcart.

Beatrice Dohrn, Lambda's legal director, said a lower court ruling declared Michigan's sodomy law unconstitutional recently, too. Although it was never appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, Lambda counts Michigan as off the list of states with sodomy laws, too.

Not counting Texas and Michigan, but counting Massachusetts, that leaves 21 states with sodomy laws. At least two are facing similar legal challenges-in Louisiana and Montana.

Cathcart said one problem with the Texas Supreme Court reasoning is that people who have been arrested and convicted on sodomy charges, even in arguably private and consensual circumstances, are most often reluctant to challenge the constitutionality of the law because of fear of publicity. But many gays face discrimination because of those laws, he noted, such as in custody cases, the military, immigration, and other arenas where acknowledgment of being gay carries with it the assumption that the person engages in sodomy.

"The Texas decision," said Cathcart, "shows a lack of understanding on the part of the court as to how legalized homophobia works and how sodomy laws hurt lesbians and gay men." ♡

Reprinted with permission from the Washington Blade.

FEB IS FOR LOVERS

(and wannabees)!

Bring a new cut customer

in and yours is 30% OFF

→ Permanents and massage

therapy are 20% OF

SAVE $6-$15

FEB N

Chaz

HAIRCARE

&SPA

13429 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood 521-1199

EISENBERG & TKACZ Attorneys at Law

Serving all your Legal needs.

14701 Detroit Ave., #567 Lakewood, Ohio 44107 (216) 228-8233

Rachel V. Eisenberg Ruth L. Tkacz▼

Cincinnati

Continued from Page 1

November. "Things are moving kind of slowly, but we're happy that in the short time the boycott has been in effect, there have been two major cancellations," boycott coordinator Todd Kamm said. "We are hopeful there will be more cancellations." Beth Charlton, spokeswoman for the Greater Cincinnati Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the city made $236 million from conventions last year. She estimated Cincinnati will lose $3 million from the AHA convention, which would have attracted 3,000 people. The estimated loss from the library convention is $5 million. About 8,000 participants were expected.