Kamala Harris

A group of California legislators, including Attorney General Kamala Harris, have 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,” according to a recent CNN article.

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, according to CNN. McLaughlin’s proposed law would also ban gays — whom he refers to as “sodomites” — from holding public office.

Attorney General Kamala Harris sought a court order Wednesday to keep her from having to provide an official title and summary for what she called an “utterly reprehensible” proposed ballot measure that would authorize killing gays and lesbians in California, her office announced.

“This proposal not only threatens public safety, it is patently unconstitutional, utterly reprehensible and has no place in a civil society,” Harris said in a statement. “Today, I am filing an action for declaratory relief with the [Sacramento County Superior] 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.”

Under his proposed law, people found guilty of spreading “sodomite propaganda” would be fined $1 million or see jail time, according to CNN.

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, according to CNN. 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, according to CNN.

McLaughlin, who could not immediately be reached for comment Friday, faces an uphill task to actually see his proposal on a statewide ballot, according to CNN. 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.

CNN and The LA Times contributed to this story.