California State Assembly votes to remove "homosexuals" from decades-old law
Tue. April 27, 2010 12:00 AM by GoPride.com News Staff
Sacramento, CA -
The California state Assembly voted Monday to take references to homosexuals out of a 60-year-old law that classified gays as deviants.
Monday's vote was unanimous. The issue now goes to the state Senate.
The law, created in 1950, instructed the Department of Mental Hygiene to research the causes and possible cures of homosexuality.
At the time, some legislators believed that homosexuality would lead to criminal behavior.
California has not paid for research in this area for decades, but the law did generate reports during the 1950's.
The San Francisco Chronicle found a report that stated: "Passive, effeminate youths in attempting to assert themselves and to overcome strong homosexual drives may engage in criminal aggressive behavior. There is also the danger that overt homosexuals, ordinarily harmless and friendly, may in their hunt for partners be attracted to latent homosexuals who both desire and fear homosexual expressions. Relations of this kind may end in atrocities and homicide..."
Monday's vote was unanimous. The issue now goes to the state Senate.
The law, created in 1950, instructed the Department of Mental Hygiene to research the causes and possible cures of homosexuality.
At the time, some legislators believed that homosexuality would lead to criminal behavior.
California has not paid for research in this area for decades, but the law did generate reports during the 1950's.
The San Francisco Chronicle found a report that stated: "Passive, effeminate youths in attempting to assert themselves and to overcome strong homosexual drives may engage in criminal aggressive behavior. There is also the danger that overt homosexuals, ordinarily harmless and friendly, may in their hunt for partners be attracted to latent homosexuals who both desire and fear homosexual expressions. Relations of this kind may end in atrocities and homicide..."