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Full month of Gay Pride doings in Cincinnati

CINCINNATI-The Greater Cincinnati Gay Coalition will hold a month full of activities in commemoration of the Stonewall uprising.

GCGC will enter its fifth year of activity here with "Celebration '81," the fourth annual observance of Lesbian/Gay Pride in the region.

tation to people throughout Ohio to join in an array of activities open to all.

The festivities begin with an international exhibition of lesbi-

an/gay images in "OUT ART" and culminate in a rally on Fountain Square downtown.

In between, coalition members and others will host productions The Coalition extends an inviof the play "T-Shirts," a picnic,

trip to Kings Island, gay-related films, and other special happenings.

GCGC was formed four years ago to coordinate activities of member groups and tackle special projects. In the past it has

worked with Lesbian Activist Bureau (LAB) and others to protest Anita Bryant's visit here, sensitize police officers to

New York State sodomy law stays nixed

Reprinted with permission of GAY COMMUNITY NEWS, 22 Bromfield Street, Bos-

ton, MA 02108

By Phil Shehadi WASHINGTON, D. C.--The United States Supreme Court has declined to review a 1980 New York Court of Appeals ruling that declared the state sod-: omy laws were unconstitutional.

The decision by the nation's highest court is not an endorsement of the state ruling that legalized sodomy in New York, but gay rights activists involved in the case are nevertheless pleased. "It's what we were hoping for," said Roz Richter, execufive director of the Lambda Legal

Defense and Education Fund.

She explained that given the conservative flavor of the current Supreme Court, a decision to review the case would have been "too risky."

"The Court might have reversed that state ruling with disastrous consequences for future challenge to state sodomy laws," she added.

Had the Supreme Court heard the case and affirmed it. however, sodomy laws in every state

could have been declared unconstitutional.

The case involved the April, 1978 conviction of Ronald Onofre, a gay minister from Onondaga County, New York on charges of consensual sodomy. His conviction was successfully appealed to an Appellate division court by Syracuse lawyer Bonnie Strunk. Finally, in December, 1980, that appeal was upheld by the Court of Appeals, New York State's highest court.

The Onondaga county district attorney's office then applied for a Supreme Court hearing. It argued that the Court of Appeals decision was inconsistent with other state rulings on sodomy laws and over-extended the constitutional right to privacy. A 1976 state court ruling in North Carolina, for example, affirmed the constitutionality of that state's sodomy jaws.

"We'll never know if the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case because it agreed with my reasoning or simply because it didn't want to deal with the issue," Strunk told GCN. The court is not obliged to articulate its reasons for rejecting an application for review.

Strunk noted that the Supreme Court has not recently heard any case involving a gay-rights issue, apparently preferring to leave these issues up to the state courts.

Strunk expressed hope that the Supreme Court's refusal to touch New York's sodomy ruling may encourage similar rulings in other states.

"It's getting easier and easier for other states to jump on the band wagon," she said. The highest courts in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have all recently declared their state sodomy laws to be unconstitutional. In New York and New Jersey the decisions were made on privacy grounds, and in Pennsylvania on equal-protection grounds.

A case challenging the sodomy law in Texas is currently pending in a federal court.

The January 24, 1980 decision in People v. Onofre that overturned Onofre's decision--and ultimately New York State's sodomy laws--read in part, "Personal sexual conduct is a fundamental right, protected by the right to privacy because of the transcendental importance of sex to the human condition, the intimacy of the conduct, and its relationship to a person's right to control his or her body. The right is broad enough to include sexual acts between non-married persons." -flled from New York City.

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homosexuals' concerns, and picket showings of "Cruising" and "Windows."

mentary photographs, paintings, ceramic constructions, prints and drawings.

LAB has decided not to coMore than twenty-five artists sponsor a rally this year because submitted material for considerof concern over GCGC's inactionation of inclusion in the exhibion the man-boy love issue. tion. A primary concern for the It may hold its own obexhibition is to show that serious work which deals with homosex-

servance.

After promises of support from members and individuals, GCGC unanimously decided to go ahead with this year's ob-

servance.

"Celebration '81" is designed as a jubilation, but also a recognition of realities under President Reagan and right-wing efforts to limit gay progress.

Complete details of the activities are available from GCGC, Box 19158, Cincinnati, OH 45219, or calling the Gay Community Switchboard, (513) 241-0001. Out Art

The Out Art exhibition of art with themes on lesbian and homosexual life will include works by more than fifteen artists. Entries have come from Germany and Canada as well as from New York City, Baltimore, San Antonio, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Memphis and Cincinnati. The works vary in medium from figurative sculpture, docu-

ual and lesbian issues is being done by artists all over the world. The decision process for inclusion was made by the work's directness to the theme of the

exhibition and consideration for the quality of the work with relationship to other possible entries working with the same media, content and/or style.

Out Art opens with a preview reception on June 5, 7-10 pm at C.A.G.E., 706 Walnut Street, 5th floor. The exhibition continues through to June 27. Gay Flicks

Moviola, Cincinnati's Repertory Cinema at 719 Race Street.. will complement the exhibition with screenings of films which deal with gay issues. The films are: Divine Madness, Butley, NijInsky, Women in Love, The Boys In the Band, In A Year of 13 Moons (Cincinnati Premiere!), and Sunday, Bloody Sunday. These films will be shown between June 5-30.

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