California attorney general fighting 'reprehensible' ballot measure against gays

On Wednesday, California Attorney General Kamala Harris sought a court order that would stop her from having to give a title and summary for a proposed ballot measure that would sanction the killing of gays and lesbians in the state, an initiative she said "not only threatens public safety" but is "unconstitutional, utterly reprehensible, and has no place in a civil society."

Matthew McLaughlin, an attorney from Huntington Beach, paid $200 to submit the so-called Sodomite Suppression Act to the state attorney general's office, the Los Angeles Times reports. Once an act is submitted, the office must come up with a name for it as well as a summary; after that happens, supporters of the proposed measure have 180 days to collect the more than 365,000 signatures needed to put it on the ballot.

If the court does not grant Harris relief and she must prepare and issue the title and summary, she said her office "will be forced to issue a title and summary for a proposal that seeks to legalize discrimination and vigilantism." Two lawmakers say they are so outraged by the proposed initiative — which states gays and lesbians can be killed by "bullets to the head" or "any other convenient method" — they have proposed a bill that would increase the fee for filing a ballot measure from $200 to $8,000.

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