Matthew Gregory McLaughlin, California Lawyer, Proposes Ballot Measure Allowing Execution of Gays
A
group of California legislators has filed a complaint against a lawyer
who is proposing a statewide ballot initiative that would allow gays and
lesbians to be "put to death by bullets to the head."
Matthew Gregory McLaughlin, an Orange County attorney, filed the so-called Sodomite Suppression Act
on Feb. 24 with the state's Office of the Attorney General.
McLaughlin's proposed law would also ban gays — whom he refers to as
"sodomites" — from holding public office.
Under his proposed law, people found guilty of spreading "sodomite propaganda" would be fined $1 million or see jail time.
But the state Legislature's LGBT Caucus is asking the State Bar to review McLaughlin, who is listed as active and permitted to practice in California. They believe he's violating the State Bar's requirement that attorneys act in "good moral character."
"We are shocked and
outraged that a member of the State Bar would so callously call for the
disenfranchisement, expulsion and murder of members of the LGBT
community," the caucus wrote in its complaint dated March 10 and
obtained by NBC News.
"We believe that this
measure not only fails constitutional muster, but that such inciting and
hateful language has no place in our discourse, let alone state
constitution," it said.
Anyone can file a
prospective state ballot measure at a $200 fee, and the public has 30
days to respond before the attorney general publishes a summary of the
measure, according to state rules.
McLaughlin, who could
not immediately be reached for comment Friday, faces an uphill task to
actually see his proposal on a statewide ballot. The initiative must
gather the number of signatures equal to 5 percent of those who voted in
the last election for governor — or about 366,000 valid names.
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