California's attorney general has asked a court to allow her to reject a proposed ballot initiative that calls for the state to put homosexuals to death.
A lawyer filed an application with the attorney general's office last month for the so-called "Sodomite Suppression Act" which states "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." The measure would also impose a $1 million fine for anyone caught distributing gay literature, plus a 10-year prison sentence and permanent expulsion from California.
Attorney General Kamala Harris issued a statement Wednesday announcing her decision to seek legal action against the proposal, saying it "not only threatens public safety, it is patently unconstitutional, utterly reprehensible, and has no place in a civil society."
California's attorney general is required by law to administer a proposed ballot initiative once it is filed and the sponsor pays a $200 fee. If the court rules against Harris, the sponsor can then try and collect the necessary 366,000 signatures to qualify it for the November 2016 ballot.