Faced with a federal lawsuit over the county's new residency requirements for sex offenders, the lead author of the legislation now says that the ordinance was never intended to apply to people who commit crimes against adults.

"It was a children's protection bill," said Allegheny County Councilman Vince Gastgeb, R-Bethel Park.

The problem, though, is that the local ordinance doesn't specifically say that. Even though it restricts offenders from living near schools and child care centers, nowhere does it state that it applies only to people who commit crimes against children.

Instead, it refers to Pennsylvania's Megan's Law. That statute requires that people convicted of certain sex offenses - including those committed against adults - register with the state.

"It never came up," Mr. Gastgeb said. "We wanted to find a good mechanism to track these people, and that was Megan's Law."

Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against the county on behalf of six sex offenders, who say that they are precluded from living "virtually anywhere" in Allegheny County because of the residency restrictions.

Passed in October 2007, the law, as written, forbids any sex offender from living within 2,500 feet of any child care facility, community center, public park or recreation facility or school.

A map outlining the forbidden places was supposed to be published by the county but has not yet been released.

The lawsuit alleges that such a map will show that only a few areas would be permitted, and they offer either no housing or very expensive housing; few rental properties and no access to public transportation.

The plaintiffs include at least two men who committed sex offenses against adults and who do not have any restrictions limiting their contact with children.

They say that the county ordinance is either forcing them to move or prohibiting them from finding a new place to live.

"Sex-offender residency laws are political placebos that offer the public a false sense of safety, while in reality they interfere with Megan's Laws and undermine more effective individualized efforts to prevent future crimes," said Witold Walczak, the legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

The Allegheny County Council unanimously passed the law after a group of Mt. Lebanon residents complained last year that a registered sex offender was living near an elementary school in the Sunset Hill neighborhood.

But the 14-page complaint contends that the law not only violates the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs, but defeats the purposes of sentencing, which include: ensuring public safety, rehabilitating the offender, reintegrating the offender into the community, and reducing the prison population.

"The ordinance panders to the public stereotype that all sex offenders are violent predators who target children and who cannot be rehabilitated," the lawsuit said. But it continued, "many, if not most, registered sex offenders have never committed a sex offense that involves a minor."

Mr. Gastgeb said he plans to rewrite the ordinance to target those who victimize children.

"To me, it's important enough to make sure the residency restrictions stand."