Serial flashers who expose themselves for sexual gratification are likely face much stricter penalties after the City Council votes today on a new public lewdness bill.

The bill, which has solid backing in the council, would spike the maximum penalty for suspects convicted more than once of public lewdness in a three-year period to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine from a maximum of 90 days in prison and a $500 fine. In pushing the bill, the chairman of council’s Committee on Public Safety, Peter Vallone, pointed to a series of instances in the past two years where flashing led to more serious sexual crimes.

While Mr. Vallone said he considers the bill a victory for the city, he had wanted to make the penalties even heavier.

“We ran into some groups that felt they were targeted,” he said. Those groups included advocates for the gay and lesbian community, a reporter that has been covering the topic for the Gay City News, Duncan Osborne, said.

“What you see are two very broad types of arrests for public lewdness laws: flashers and gay men having sex,” Mr. Duncan, who analyzed every public lewdness arrest in 2006 through freedom of information requests to each of the city’s five district attorneys’ offices, said. “Gay men tend to be discreet, while flashers want people to see them. You are really talking about two different crimes.”

While Mr. Vallone has identified a serious problem with flashers, gay men are unevenly targeted by law enforcement as compared to heterosexual couples, Mr. Osborne said.