In an escalation of weird ballot measures, one woman has filed the 'Intolerant Jackass Act' as a protest against another initiative that calls for the murder of gay people. Charlotte Laws of Woodland Hills has filed the 'Intolerant Jackass Act' as a direct response to the anti-gay 'Sodomite Suppression Act' filed by Huntington Beach attorney Matthew McLaughin in February, the L.A. Times reports.
The 'Sodomite Suppression Act' was filed on February 26. Complete with a check for the $200 filing fee, McLaughlin's act listed seven points, including 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."
Laws sent her proposal to LAist, saying "we must fight fire with fire." Her act calls for "intolerant jackasses" to be fined and educated.
Any person, herein known as an "Intolerant Jackass," who brings forth a ballot measure that suggests the killing of gays and/or lesbians, whether this measure is called the Sodomite Suppression Act or is known by some other name, shall be required to attend sensitivity training for at least three (3) hours per month for twelve (12) consecutive months. In addition, the offender or "Intolerant Jackass" must donate $5,000 to a pro-gay or pro-lesbian organization.
McLaughlin's initiative is so ridiculous and appalling that it stumbles into Poe's Law territory, even appearing on hoax and urban legend buster Snopes where its validity is questioned. Snopes notes that McLaughlin filed a previous initiative to try to get the Bible put into schools with his 'King James Bible as Textbook Initiative.' This indicates that McLaughlin may be serious, or he may just be a serial prankster with some extra cash trying to make fun of fundamentalists. So far, no one has been able to get McLaughlin to comment on his initiative or clarify his intentions.
Either way, for McLaughlin's proposal to actually appear on a ballot, he would have to gather over 365,000 signatures in 180 days. So basically, it's not going to happen.
An online petition calling for McLauglin, who is a real lawyer, to be disbarred currently has 17,000 signatures.
