A California Assembly committee approved a bill on Tuesday that would remove a section of state code that identifies homosexuality as a sexual deviation, equates it to child molestation and asks for research into its “causes and cures.”
At issue is a 60-year-old section of the Welfare and Institutions code that classifies homosexuals as “sexual deviants” and directs the state Department of Mental Health to conduct research on “deviations conducive to sex crimes against children.”
The bill moved out of the Assembly Committee on Public Safety on a 4-0 vote, with one Democrat and two Republican members abstaining from voting.
They said the law’s reference to homosexuality should be removed but that they want the state to continue researching sex crimes.
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