“Sodomite Suppression Act” proposed by US Christian lawyer

Cross-post from the National Secular Society

A California lawyer has proposed a "Sodomite Suppression Act" and warned of "God's just wrath" should the state of California not put homosexuals to death.

The lawyer who is proposing the legislation, Matt McLaughlin, says "buggery" and "sodomy" are 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".

McLaughlin is calling for homosexuals to be executed "by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method."

The Sodomite Suppression Act warns that "any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death" and that no person may "distribute, perform, or transmit sodomistic propaganda."

It adds: "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.

"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."

The proposal contains a clause that the law may not be invalidated "until heard by a quorum of the Supreme Court of California consisting only of judges who are neither sodomites nor subject to disqualification hereunder.

"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."

McLaughlin must now collect over 350,000 signatures for his proposed ballot initiative in order for it to actually appear on the ballot paper. However, the California Attorney General is seeking permission from a state court to reject the proposed initiative.

There is currently a petition with over 51,000 signatures to have McLaughlin disbarred by the California Bar Association, in response to his voter initiative.

Whilst this proposal is almost certain not to be seen by voters on the ballot paper in 2016, it is not the only piece of anti-LGBT legislation currently being discussed.

Indiana has recently passed a 'religious freedom' bill that would allow discrimination against homosexuals. The American Civil Liberties Union said the legislation appears "to invite the use of religion to discriminate, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity."

The Belfast Telegraph compared the legislation to the 'conscience' bill in Northern Ireland that is being pushed by the DUP, in response to the Ashers bakery case, which is currently being heard in court.