CALIFORNIA: AG Shoots Down Another Attempt By Gay Death Penalty Advocate

Yesterday California Attorney General Kamala Harris rejected another attempt to place the Sodomite Suppression Act on the 2016 ballot. This time Christian activist Matt McLaughlin tried a different angle.

In his first public comments since proposing the original “Sodomite Suppression Act” in February, Matt McLaughlin expressed outrage that Harris’ office, which is charged with preparing ballot measures, summarily dismissed his latest offering, the “Sodomite Suppression Mandate.” “What I’m proposing is not murder,” McLaughlin said in a telephone interview with The Sacramento Bee. “I’m proposing the laws as they’ve ever been. The Bible doesn’t change.” McLaughlin said he purposely didn’t defend his first ballot proposal, a statute law, when Harris asked a judge for permission to keep it from the ballot. He said he devised his second as a constitutional amendment, which he thought she would have to clear for signature gathering. McLaughlin said that for centuries, homosexuality was a crime, often punishable by death, but as gays and lesbians won legal and political battles for their rights, “I feel mine were attacked. I’m a Bible believer.” Christian supporters of gay rights have noted that Jesus never spoke about homosexuality.

McLaughlin says he is considering a lawsuit against Harris.

JMG reader Mike points us to what appears to be McLaughlin's blog. From the current top post:

Harris’ office wants to pretend that she doesn’t even have to consider the brand new initiative I filed – she unilaterally claims the right to apply the court’s default judgment regarding the “Sodomite Suppression Act” to the new “Sodomite Suppression Mandate” initiative proposal that was filed on June 24. Of course, that is blatantly dishonest. The first initiative only sought to change the Penal Code, but the second one seeks to amend the state’s constitution – that makes them radically different proposals. The dishonesty of this slippery lawyer Kamala Harris can be compared to her obtaining a default judgment to repossess your car, and then she brings it your front door and tries to use it to foreclose on your home.

This seems to be McLaughlin's 1988 yearbook photo.

CALIFORNIA: AG Kamala Harris Wins Battle Against Sodomite Suppression Act

Yesterday the California Assembly approved a resolution which denounces the Sodomite Suppression Act, the proposed 2016 ballot measure to have all gay people put to death. The Assembly's move is now moot as a Superior Court judge has approved Attorney General Kamala Harris' request to strike the measure before petition signature gathering can begin. The court's ruling comes despite the position taken by some legal experts who say ballot items cannot be challenged until after being approved by voters. In early May, Sodomite Suppression Act author Matt McLaughlin vowed to have a court force his item directly onto the ballot if he is not allowed to gather petition signatures.

RELATED: Still potentially on the 2016 California ballot is the Intolerant Jackass Act, which was green-lighted to begin collecting signatures earlier this month. The Intolerant Jackass Act was filed in response to McLaughlin's measure and would require him to attend LGBT sensitivity training. McLaughlin has reportedly demanded an apology from the author of the Jackass Act. Seriously.

CALIFORNIA: Gay Death Penalty Advocate Vows To Have Court Force Ballot Measure

It turns out that there was more to that letter from Matt McLauglin than I reported early this morning. Via CBS San Francisco:

In a bizarre legal twist in a jaw-droppingly hateful proposal that calls into question the entire California ballot initiative process, the author of a bill proposing murdering California’s gays may ask a court to place his proposal on the ballot without gathering a single signature other than his own. In a letter quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, Matt McLaughlin writes to the state attorney general, “Take notice that if your office and the California secretary of state refuse to clear the Sodomite Suppression Act for signature circulation, I may demand as remedy that it be placed on the election ballot directly.”

Judge Steven Rodda in Sacramento agreed to give the attorney general until June 25 to prepare an official title and ballot summary for the initiative, which would amend the California penal code to make sex with a person of the same gender an offense punishable by “bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.” The attorney general plans to move then to have her original request to quash the measure granted by default. Her office said in its appeal for more time that the Orange County lawyer who paid $200 to submit the initiative, Matthew McLaughlin, has not attempted to defend his so-called Sodomite Suppression Act in court.

It's not clear from the above-linked report if a court can indeed force the issue onto the ballot without the approval of the state or gathering the required signatures. (Tipped by JMG reader Benjamin)

CALIFORNIA: Court Grants AG More Time To Quash Sodomite Supression Act

California's infamous Sodomite Suppression Act, which would ask voters to approve of executing all gay people, was due to enter the petition-gathering stage next week. Yesterday a state court granted Attorney General Kamala Harris more time to quash the referendum.

Harris asked a state court in late March for permission to reject the measure, calling it obviously unconstitutional and "utterly reprehensible." But since a judge has not yet acted on the unusual request, she said in legal papers filed Wednesday that she would be legally bound to clear the initiative's author on Monday to start pursuing the 366,000 signatures needed to put the law before voters in November 2016.

Judge Steven Rodda in Sacramento agreed to give the attorney general until June 25 to prepare an official title and ballot summary for the initiative, which would amend the California penal code to make sex with a person of the same gender an offense punishable by "bullets to the head or by any other convenient method."

The attorney general plans to move then to have her original request to quash the measure granted by default. Her office said in its appeal for more time that the Orange County lawyer who paid $200 to submit the initiative, Matthew McLaughlin, has not attempted to defend his so-called Sodomite Suppression Act in court.

McLaughlin sent Harris a letter in early April in which he declared, "Costly litigation is not something that you may require me to incur prior to exercising my rights under both the California Constitution and the initiative statute." He has not yet responded to any inquiries from the press and we still don't even know what he looks like.

BREAKING: California AG Asks Court To Quash Gay Death Penalty Referendum

"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." - California Attorney General Kamala Harris, via press release.

CALIFORNIA: Gay Death Penalty Ballot Measure Will Probably Be Advanced

Last month a Christian activist filed a 2016 California ballot measure that calls for the death penalty for homosexuality. And it appears that Attorney General Kamala Harris can do little to prevent the the proposed referendum from reaching the petition signature gathering stage. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The state Supreme Court has the power to keep measures off the ballot if they violate the California Constitution. It has exercised that power to disqualify measures that cover more than one subject, broadly defined, and to block last year’s attempt by legislative Democrats to seek a statewide advisory vote on a U.S. constitutional amendment that would limit corporate spending in federal elections. Presumably the justices could locate a state constitutional provision that would discourage shooting people in the head.

But McLaughlin’s measure is currently before Harris, whose options appear to be limited. Once the sponsor has paid the required fee, state law directs the attorney general to prepare a title and a maximum 100-word summary of the initiative and forward it to the secretary of state for a 90-day period of public signature-gathering. The secretary of state’s website says Harris is scheduled to take those actions by about May 4.

Does she have the power to refuse if the measure is patently unconstitutional? Harris isn’t saying; her office did not return repeated phone calls. But some veteran practitioners of election law said they don’t think so. “The statute is clear: that the office has to prepare a summary provided the proponents have paid $200 and followed the right procedures,” said attorney Robert Stern, author of the state’s 1974 Political Reform Act. He said he’s never heard of a case in which the attorney general refused to issue a title and summary.

The ballot measure briefly vanished from the AG's official website earlier this month, but soon reappeared. The proposed referendum includes this stipulation: "Any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification shall be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method." Jesus is love.

CALIFORNIA: AG Kamala Harris To Make 2016 Bid For Barbara Boxer's Senate Seat

Via USA Today:

California Attorney General Kamala Harris formally launched her campaign for the U.S. Senate and immediately pushed the nascent 2016 race to a new level. "I want to be a voice for Californians," Harris said in an message to supporters posted on her website. "I will be a fighter for the next generation on the critical issues facing our country." Harris is the first major candidate to officially declare she wants to succeed Sen. Barbara Boxer, a liberal who is retiring after four terms. The California attorney general is a charismatic Democratic who also happens to be multi-ethnic — her father is from Jamaica and her mother is of South Asian descent — and who has already won two statewide races.

Harris is an ardent LGBT ally and personally officiated for two of the Prop 8 plaintiffs immediately after the 2013 Supreme Court ruling.