The New York Times - Sunday, December 1, 1985
Robert D. McFadden

A coalition of groups opposed to discrimination against homosexuals said yesterday that it would sue the state to strike down new rules that seek to slow the spread of AIDS by closing establishments that permit "high risk" sexual activity.

The suit, by the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights, challenges the constitutionality of rules that empower local health officials to close bathhouses, bars and other businesses where high-risk sex - defined as oral or anal intercourse - takes place.

The lawyer for the coalition of 50 political, religious, educational and other activist groups, Christopher R. Lynn, said the suit would be filed tomorrow in State Supreme Court in Manhattan and would seek a declaratory judgment overturning the state rules. #60-Day Rules Under the rules, promulgated as an emergency measure for 60 days on Oct. 25, dozens of places have been inspected by state and local health officials. As a result, some businesses have quietly restricted sexual practices on their premises. One place has closed voluntarily; a second, a homosexual bar in Greenwich Village, was closed for violating the rules, and a third, a heterosexual establishment in midtown, was closed after inspectors looking for AIDS-related violations reported finding evidence of prostitution.

The suit would bar further enforcement on the ground that the rules are so broad they could be used to invade hotels or even residences, and that their promulgation by the state's Public Health Council was a "usurpation of legislative power."

As defendants, the suit names the council; Governor Cuomo; Dr. David Axelrod, the State Health Commissioner, and Attorney General Robert Abrams.

A spokesman for Governor Cuomo, Gary Fryer, declined to comment until the suit was studied. As for the rules, he said: "This action was not taken lightly. It was taken in response to a serious public health problem. The inspections and the enforcement are continuing."

The Governor and Dr. Axelrod have said the rules were not aimed at homosexuals but were intended to limit sexual practices in public places, among both homosexuals and heterosexuals, that constitute a public health hazard.

Mayor Koch, after first raising questions about the difficulty of enforcing the rules, said the city's enforcement measures were intended to save lives, not impose restrictions on sexuality.

Critics of the rules, including sexual activists and the New York Civil Liberties Union, have argued that closing establishments would have no real impact on sexual activity and constituted a step toward government regulation of private behavior.

The rules, the coalition charged, are an "anti-gay" effort to regulate private sexual conduct, and "an easy way out" of what it called a complex medical problem calling for major research and education programs.

'Easy Way Out'

"The real need is for education, research and funding," said Betty Santoro, speaking for the coalition. "But the state doesn't want to do that. They're looking for an easy way out. They just want to shut the public up - throw them a bone. They're doing tremendous damage with these anti-gay guidelines. You cannot regulate private sexual behavior. The state is avoiding real solutions and scapegoating gay people."

Another coalition official, Eleanor Cooper, said: "The Governor's guidelines are a publicity stunt designed to take the heat off the state and put it on gay men. They ignore everything we know about AIDS. It's also a thinly veiled attempt to reinstate the state's sodomy laws that were thrown out by the Court of Appeals in 1980."

She said the coalition opposed unsafe sex, but regarded the guidelines as "homophobic" and "irrational" because they failed to deal with drug use and heterosexual means of spreading AIDS, focusing only on places where AIDS risks had already fallen with declining attendance and safer sex.

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, breaks down the body's immune system and leaves the victim vulnerable to deadly diseases. Its victims primarily have been homosexuals and intravenous drug users.

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