Would You Sign My "Kill the Gays" ballot proposal?

In February, California attorney Matt McLaughlin paid $200 to propose a ballot measure called the Sodomite Suppression Act. McLaughlin’s measure describes gay sex as “a monstrous evil that Almighty God … commands us to suppress on pain of utter destruction.” Given these high stakes, McLaughlin suggests all gay people “be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.”

Click to expand...

• a) 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.
• b) Seeing that it is better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God's just wrath against us for the folly of tolerating-wickedness in our midst, the People of California wisely command, in the fear of God, that any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.
• c) No person shall distribute, perform, or transmit sodomistic propaganda directly or indirectly by any means to any person under the age of majority. Sodomistic propaganda is defined as anything aimed at creating an interest in or an acceptance of human sexual relations other than between a man and a woman. Every offender shall be fined $1 million per occurrence, and/or imprisoned up to 10 years, and/or expelled from the boundaries of the state of California for up to life.
• d) No person shall serve in any public office, nor serve in public employment, nor enjoy any public benefit, who is a sodomite or who espouses sodomistic propaganda or who belongs to any group that does.

Given the total outrageousness of the proposal, almost everybody assumed it would be quickly quashed. It seems, however, that quietly suffocating McLaughlin’s measure won’t be so easy. In fact, the proposal is almost certain to make it to the signature-gathering stage—despite the total illegality of its central goal.

The problem here is so foreseeable that it’s hard to believe California hasn’t fixed it before. Under state law, any citizen who properly submits an initiative (and pays the $200 fee) is entitled to gather signatures for their pet proposal. The attorney general is tasked with penning an official title and summary for the measure. She does not, however, have any discretionary authority to nix even the most absurd and sadistic of proposals. This rule, initially promulgated by the California Supreme Court, was designed to prevent partisan attorneys general from scrapping proposals for political reasons. But by refusing to give the attorney general any discretion over what measures pass the first hurdle, the court inadvertently protected crackpot proposals like McLaughlin’s.

California legislators are currently debating other methods of screening out insane and/or murderous ballot initiatives, such as significantly raising the filing fee. They can at least rest easy knowing that McLaughlin’s proposal almost certainly won’t attract the 365,880 signatures it needs to make it to the ballot. Even if the measure fails to meet that threshold, however, McLaughlin can try again next cycle. The California State Bar only disciplines attorneys for acts of “moral turpitude”—usually in relation to their work and clients, not their protected free speech activities. In the end, then, McLaughlin will probably keep his law license and face no official sanction.

Click to expand...

benbradley said:

Oh, this is NOT Nighttimer asking us to sign HIS ballot proposal...

Click to expand...

LittlePinto said:

The only way I can come up with to deal with this kind of hatred is mockery. Unfortunately, people like McLaughlin are immune to shame.

Click to expand...

Fruitbat said:

So, like is this one of those guys who's too interested then gets caught in the woods behind the rest area with another man?

Is that really a thing?

Heh. I said thing.

Click to expand...