We told you awhile back about Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal’s bill to change state code so it no longer equates homosexuality and child molestation. The Assembly approved the measure unanimously in April, and now gay rights advocates are happy to report that the Senate did the same thing this week.

The measure, AB2199, strikes a 20-year-old line of state code that directed the Department of Mental Health to conduct research into “the causes and cures of sexual deviation” including “the causes and cures of homosexuality.”

Now, it reads:

The State Department of Mental Health shall plan, conduct, and cause to be conducted scientific research into sex crimes against children and into methods of identifying those who commit sexual offenses.

The bill will head to the Assembly for concurrence and then on to the governor’s desk.