California Attorney General Kamala Harris has just issued a statement concerning the
Sodomite Suppression Act. It follows:
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued the following statement on her decision to file an action for declaratory relief seeking judicial authorization to not issue a title and summary for the so-called Sodomite Suppression Act:
“As Attorney General of California, it is my sworn duty to uphold the California and United States Constitutions and to protect the rights of all Californians. This proposal not only threatens public safety, it is patently unconstitutional, utterly reprehensible, and has no place in a civil society. Today, I am filing an action for declaratory relief with the Court seeking judicial authorization for relief from the duty to prepare and issue the title and summary for the "Sodomite Suppression Act." If the Court does not grant this relief, my office will be forced to issue a title and summary for a proposal that seeks to legalize discrimination and vigilantism.”
via
press release
I believe that the sought-after relief would need to come from the California Supreme Court.
From The New Civil Rights Movement:
Earlier this month Christian activist and attorney Matt McLaughlin filed a proposal for a ballot initiative that would create a California law mandating the murder all gay people. The Sodomite Suppression Act calls homosexual sex "buggery," and "sodomy," and labels it "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 [sic]."
It demands "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."
McLaughlin, who had to pay only $200 to file his proposal, would have to get 365,000 legitimate California residents to sign up to support the Sodomite Suppression Act in order for it to move forward.
The Human Rights Campaign applauded AG Harris for taking this action. From the
HRC:
Today, HRC hailed California Attorney General Kamala Harris for seeking to stop an abhorrent and unconstitutional proposed ballot initiative that would seek to criminalize same-sex relationships and potentially threaten those convicted with death.
This afternoon, Harris announced that she was seeking judicial authorization to not issue a title and summary for the so-called "Sodomite Suppression Act," which would prevent the horrific proposal from advancing to the next stage in California's ballot measure process.
"This disgusting, barbaric measure should be stopped in its tracks, and once again Attorney General Harris has demonstrated leadership in standing up for the rights and dignity of LGBT Californians," said HRC President Chad Griffin. "It is our sincere hope that the Supreme Court of California gives her the authority to prevent it from advancing."