Advertisement

California law proposes shooting gay people. Seriously

Getty.

Getty.

Welcome to the 21st Century, where a law that legalises shooting gay and lesbian people in the head will be put to the signature-gathering stage in California.

The Sodomite Suppression Act reads like a mediaeval religious guide and justifies the execution of gay people “by bullets to the head” because “it is better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God’s just wrath”.

• Gay marriage clears hurdle
• Tony Abbott’s sister will fight him on gay marriage
• Channel Nine wants to marry complete strangers

Proposed by Californian lawyer Matt McLaughlin, it calls homosexuality an “abominable crime against nature” and a “monstrous evil that Almighty God, giver of freedom and liberty commands us to suppress on pain of our utter destruction.”

An excerpt from the 'Sodomite Suppresion Act'.

An excerpt from the ‘Sodomite Suppresion Act’. (Click to enlarge).

Incredibly, it will be put to the signature-gathering stage, as under Californian law officials cannot reject a proposed Act that includes a $US200 filing fee when sent to the attorney general.

The attorney general must give the Act a title and summary and supporters of the ‘Sudomite Suppression Act’ now have the chance to collect 365,000 signatures in order to get it to the next stage – an actual vote.

The $US200 filing fee measure was originally introduced to stop officials from interfering with proposals and encourage private citizens to propose laws.

Mr McLaughlin’s Act forbids gay people from holding public office and says that anyone who spreads “sodomistic propaganda” could be fined $US1 million, imprisoned for 10 years and be expelled from California.

As it violates a number of constitutional protections including the right to freedom of speech, the Act has no chance of becoming a law and the Californian Supreme Court is likely to block the proposal if it does happen to get 365,000 signatures.

Mr McLaughlin also once unsuccessfully proposed a law that made the King James Bible a textbook in Californian public schools.

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.