A California assembly member has written an article for the Los Angeles Times about an outdated law on the book in the state requiring health experts to find a cure for homosexuality.

Bonnie Lowenthal writes, "This 60-year-old relic was not some gay-baiting prelude to the McCarthy era. It came, rather, in response to public outcry over sex crimes in California, specifically the molestation-murder of a 6-year-old Los Angeles girl. The murderer was not a gay man. There was no connection between the crime and homosexuality at all.

"Even so, before the dust had settled, well-meaning California legislators passed a law that not only required health officials to seek "the causes and cures of homosexuality" but likened people who are gay to child molesters. Amazingly, it's still on the books."

Lowenthal is the author of Assembly Bill 2199, which seeks to repeal the dated law and faces its first hearing Tuesday before the public safety committee.

Read the full article.