ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 12, 1993                   TAG: 9305120183
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: COLUMBIA, S.C.                                LENGTH: Short

S.C. WOMEN NO LONGER SAFE FROM PROFANITY

It might not be good manners to curse in front of a lady, but it's no crime, the state Supreme Court says.

The law that prohibited "any obscene, profane, indecent, vulgar, suggestive or immoral message," spoken or written to a "woman or woman child" didn't mention men and amounted to unequal protection under the law, the court ruled Monday.

The justices said they would not allow laws that make a distinction between men and women based on "old notions" about their differences.

They tossed out the conviction of a teen-ager who was sentenced as a juvenile for using an unspecified obscenity to threaten a 15-year-old girl. - Associated Press 


 by CNB