Date:         Tue, 30 Jan 1996 11:48:45 -0500
From: DennyCLU@AOL.COM

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News from the ACLU National Headquarters

              Federal Court Strikes Down Alabama Law
               Barring Gay Student Groups from Campus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, January 30, 1996

MONTGOMERY, Ala  -- In a closely watched First Amendment case, a
federal court late Monday struck down an Alabama statute designed to
bar lesbian and gay student groups and positive discussions of gay
issues from university campuses,  saying it violated the
constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and association.

    Judge Myron H. Thompson, of the United States District Court in
Montgomery, invalidated the statute as wholly unenforceable, calling
it "naked viewpoint discrimination" and an "open effort by the state
legislature to limit the sexuality discussion in institutions of
higher learning to only one viewpoint: that of heterosexual people."
"This viewpoint limitation violates the First Amendment," the judge
concluded.

    The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the challenge,
hailed the decision as a significant victory for the First Amendment
rights of all students, and a major setback to efforts to pass anti-gay
legislation targeting classrooms and campuses.

    "This ruling should give pause to anti-gay extremists across the
country who are seeking to censor all discussions of lesbian and gay
issues among students," said Ruth E. Harlow, Associate Director of the
ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, who argued the case before the
court.   "If other legislatures or school boards adopt similar
policies, they can expect the First Amendment to be invoked
successfully against them."

    The statute sought to bar  "any college or university from
spending public funds or using public facilities ... to sanction,
recognize, or support any group that promotes a lifestyle or actions
prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws" of the state.

    The contested law, Section 16-1-28 of Alabama's Education Code,
swept through the state legislature in 1992 in response to a decision
by Auburn University officials to grant official recognition to the
Gay Lesbian Bisexual Alliance at that school.

    The ACLU brought its challenge when state officials invoked the
law against the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Alliance at the University of
South Alabama, a state school in Mobile.   That group, which aims to
create a supportive environment for gay, lesbian and bisexual
students, as well as to foster discussion about homophobia and AIDS
prevention, was denied funding and equal treatment because of Section
16-1-28.

    Judge Thompson found that as a result of the law being enforced,
the group "has been denied on-campus banking facilities, disqualified
from receiving funding, and subjected to an intrusive and highly
personal fact-finding investigation ....  These actions have hindered
GLBA's ability to function as a student group, to sponsor events and
speakers, and to attract new and maintain old members."

    Alan Clampett, president of the group, expressed "relief that the
cloud of this law had finally been lifted."  "Our group will at last
receive the respect and First Amendment protection it deserves," he
said.

     Today's decision also paves the way for the Southeast Lesbian,
Gay and Bisexual College Conference to take place at the University
of Alabama in Tuscaloosa next month.  That conference has recently
drawn the ire of Alabama officials threatening to use the now-invalidated
 statute to block the meeting, which is expected to draw hundreds of
students from throughout the region.

    The ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project was joined in the case by
the ACLU of Alabama, with Fern Singer of the Birmingham-based law firm
of Sirote & Permutt serving as its cooperating attorney.

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Contact: Denny Lee, (212) 944-9800 ext 424

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