Democrat Hoyle Martin said Saturday a proposed resolution before Mecklenburg County commissioners will affect how agencies counsel young people about their sexual orientation - even though it doesn't explicitly say so.

Martin said the intent of the resolution is to deny county money to agencies such as Planned Parenthood if they counsel young people about their sexual orientation in their parents' absence.

Martin, a Democrat, made the sanction clear in an earlier draft of the resolution. But a newer version, to be voted on Tuesday, removed any explicit reference to counseling.

Republican commissioner Tom Bush, who helped write the revision, said that means it's not there. What is there, he and Martin say, is language that means commissioners can make future funding conditional on anything they want - including parental involvement in sexual counseling sessions.

``There's no mischievous motive here,'' Bush said. ``Basically what I intended to do (in the revision) was delete all that stuff and deal with (it) when it comes up in the budget.

GOP commissioner Bill James, who supports the resolution, says the sanction ``still is there. It's just not in there directly as it was before.''

An Observer Poll last week showed that two of three Mecklenburg residents would support a counseling restriction.

Arts groups and sex education advocates can still talk about homosexuality in Mecklenburg County without having their finances punished.

Mecklenburg commissioners on Tuesday rejected, by a 5-4 vote, Republican Bill James' proposal to eliminate county funding to any agency that provides information about homosexuality and other ``crimes of nature.''

James' argument went this way: Since state law makes homosexual sex, oral sex and other acts felonies, the county is violating the spirit of the law by funding agencies that present information about them without explicitly condemning them.

``It's a very clear issue. Comply with the law, or don't comply with the law,'' James said. ``This is a no-brainer.''

Not to a majority of commissioners, nor to a dozen speakers who called James' proposal ``absurd,'' ``homophobic'' and ``frightening.''

James and his supporters ``need to get out of my bedroom and every person's bedroom and go about solving the problems of this community,'' said Connie Vetter of Charlotte, who said she is a lesbian.

Had it passed, James' proposal could have affected the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, which are considering a comprehensive sexual education program that would include discussion of homosexuality. It also could have affected funding for the Mecklenburg Council on Adolescent Pregnancy and the Arts & Science Council.

Politics played as important a role in the final party-line vote as moral, legal or financial concerns.

Democrat Hoyle Martin, who said Sunday he would support James, voted against him despite agreeing with much of the proposal's substance. Martin said he thought the proposal went too far, and that there is a limited role agencies can play along with parents in sex education.

Martin's switch also allowed Tom Bush to vote with the other three Republicans, and avoid being a possible swing vote that might have put the policy in place.

Democrat Lloyd Scher accused Republicans of trying to force Bush to either vote with them or appear not to support conservative issues.

``This isn't about homosexuality. The main purpose for this is to do a scoreboard . . . to determine who's really a Republican and who's not,'' Scher said.

Some Charlotte citizens were offended by the political sideshow.

``This is an obvious attempt to pit conservative (commissioners) against moderates,'' said Christopher Knott, who spoke against the proposal. ``The lives of our youth are too valuable to use as pawns in this reprehensible manner.''

James, who said his proposal was not aimed at pinning down Bush, vowed to bring back parts of it that he thinks could pass with Martin's support. They included prohibiting any presentation of homosexuality in the schools or the arts.

Martin said homosexuality ``is a problem in this society.''

``If I had my way, we'd shove these people off the face of the earth. But that's not going to happen,'' Martin said. There is ``an aggressive tendency of some (homosexuals) to try to indoctrinate other people, particularly youth, into this lifestyle.''

Mecklenburg County commissioners on Tuesday will consider eliminating funding for any group that provides information about homosexuality, oral sex and other ``crimes against nature.''

Republican Bill James is trying to convince other commissioners that the county is indirectly breaking the law by funding groups that present information about acts that are illegal. At least two other commissioners support his idea.

Here's his argument: N.C. law makes homosexual sex, oral sex and other ``unnatural'' acts felonies. Groups that provide information about illegal acts are violating the spirit, if not the letter, of the law, and so should not receive public money.

``If an organization insists it's their right to advocate homosexuality, they can do it without public money,'' James said Sunday. ``A law is a law. I swore an oath to uphold the constitution of North Carolina and the general statutes.''

The top target on James's list: the Mecklenburg Council on Adolescent Pregnancy, which received $63,406 this year from the county. MCAP wants to offer comprehensive sexual education in public schools, which would include information about homosexuality and safe sex.

Neysa Dillon Brown, MCAP's board chairman, said the group would not change its position because of James' proposal.

``We know for a fact there are homosexual teen-agers in the school system, and teens that abstain and teens that are sexually active,'' Brown said. ``We feel we are a resource to teens in this community. We believe one should abstain. But our position is to be realistic.''

Brown says MCAP does not ``promote'' homosexuality, only educates children about it. James, however, says any discussion of the issue, without explicitly condemning it as illegal, is a form of advocacy.

James' proposal is not one of free speech. He does not argue that it should be illegal for groups to discuss alternative sexual styles. They should just do it without taxpayers' money, he says.

``If these groups feel that strongly about promoting homosexual behavior in all its deviant forms, they ought to go to the General Assembly and lobby to change the law,'' James said. ``You don't break the law; you change it.''

Which James himself is trying to do. James also will ask commissioners Tuesday to ask the legislature to create a statewide ban identical to the one he proposes for Mecklenburg.

James' proposal could affect the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, by cutting funding to them if they implement a comprehensive sex education curriculum, as they are discussing. It could also affect the Arts & Science Council, which receives county money and helped fund the Charlotte Repertory Theatre's presentation of ``Angels In America'' last summer. Actors simulated gay sex in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

``This is a waste of our time. We need to be dealing with the real problems in this community,'' Democrat Lloyd Scher said.

But James has the support of other county commissioners.

``Those rascals and those scalawags feeding at the public trough, especially that reprobate bunch that breaks the law, need to be cut off,'' said Republican Joel Carter.

Democrat Hoyle Martin said he would support James' proposal.

``It's a violation of God's law,'' Martin said. ``It's wrong, and government, with taxpayers' money, has no right to be supporting that sort of behavior.''