Last edited: February 14, 2005


Lane Avenue Shopping Mall Sting

From: David Morse dmorse@infinet.com

October 12, 1995

For the past week the Columbus, Ohio new media have run stories about the arrests at the Lane Ave. Shopping Mall restroom arrests. On Wednesday (10/11/95), Channel Six New broke the story during the 6:00 PM News. The story was picked up by the Ohio State University newspaper, the Lantern, printed the story on the following day.. The media used the term "homosexual" avoiding the term "gay" and did not link the story with any rights issues. in the same issue, the OSU paper printed a captioned photograph of a student gay rights organization rasing a flag, but did not print any story about the event.

Apparently, sixteen men have been arrested by police since March 1995 for touching undercover policemen in the restroom. The men included some in prominent positions including a high ranking OSU employee. The Lantern published the names. In the past year, the Columbus police have targeted and made arrests of men in parks and restrooms all over the city. One bookstore was closed for the second time. According to a Columbus attorney, the police have used every tacit to arrest including entrapment.


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