Cuomo Proposes Ban on Activities Tied to AIDS : N.Y. Regulation Would Target Bathhouses, Other Public Establishments

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo on Thursday proposed outlawing sexual activities that lead to the spread of AIDS in homosexual bathhouses and other such establishments, and said violators would be shut down.

He also began a program to educate the public about acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

“We know that certain sexual behavior can be fatal,” Cuomo said. “We must eliminate public establishments which profit from activities that foster this deadly disease.”

The type of sexual activity Cuomo proposed barring would be “blood-to-blood or semen-to-blood contact,” which is thought to be the major way AIDS is contracted and spread.

Council Meeting

State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod, whose department was drafting the language for the anti-AIDS regulation, will urge its adoption today in New York City at a meeting of the Public Health Council, which has the authority to amend the code.

If the council agrees to the regulation, it would take effect immediately, he said.

The state’s publicity campaign will feature AIDS sufferers in public service commercials urging people to seek information on the fatal disease, which cripples the body’s immune system.

The governor’s proposed regulation would affect heterosexual as well as homosexual establishments. Violators would be subject to a $1,000 fine and offenders would be subject to a fine and imprisonment.

“We have to prohibit the activity,” Cuomo said. “Issuing condoms is not enough.”

Meanwhile, in New York City, Mayor Edward I. Koch suggested combatting AIDS by requiring a blood test for couples about to be married so spouses would know if their future children faced the possibility of contracting the disease. The state Health Department abolished premarital blood tests in 1984 because there were only a few cases of venereal disease among engaged couples.