Measure Sanctioning Murder of Gays Is 'Unconstitutional' Waste of Time, Judge Rules

By PAIGE AUSTIN (Patch Staff)

An Orange County attorney’s proposed ballot measure legalizing the killing of gays and lesbians is “patently unconstitutional on its face,” and the state attorney general is within in her right to halt the proposal, a Sacramento County Judge has ruled.

The ruling kills the measure before its supporters could gather the 365,880 signatures necessary to get it on the ballot. In granting Attorney General Kamala Harris’s request to essentially ignore the proposal, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Raymond M. Cadei was succinctly scathing.

“Any preparation and official issuance of a circulating title and summary for the Act by the Attorney General would be inappropriate, waste public resources, generate unnecessary divisions among the public, and tend to mislead the electorate,” he wrote.

• Related: ‘Intolerant Jackass Act’ Can Begin Collecting Signatures In CA

The filing by Huntington Beach attorney Matthew McLaughlin, officially titled Sodomite Suppression Act, sought to sanction the murder of gays and lesbians by “bullets to the head.”

It reads, “The abominable crime against nature known as buggery, called also sodomy, is a monstrous evil that Almighty God, giver of freedom and liberty, commands us to suppress on pain of our utter destruction even as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha.”

The proposal would have required the law to be posted in all classrooms, without regard for the age of children.

“This proposal not only threatens public safety, it is patently unconstitutional, utterly reprehensible, and has no place in a civil society,” Harris said upon refusing to process it.

Harris had sought a court injunction rescinding her obligation to prepare a title and summary for the initiative.

Widely ignored as a publicity stunt rooted in bigotry, the Sodomite Suppression Act didinspire a counter initiative called the “Intolerant Jackass Act.” Proponents of that measure were cleared by state Secretary of State Alex Padilla to begin collecting signatures earlier this month.

The rival initiative would force the filer of the Sodomite Suppression Act or any similar initiative to attend sensitivity training and donate $5,000 to a pro-gay or pro-lesbian organization.

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