13yrs ago today: CAL DA organizes conference to address "gay panic" defenses used to gain acquittal

[bigtree]

James Singer @Jemsinger
13 years ago today: A local District Attorney organized a conference to discuss strategies to prevent "gay panic" defenses used to gain acquittals/reduced punishments in courtrooms for violent acts against LGBTQ victims.

That DA was @KamalaHarris


James Singer @Jemsinger 57m57 minutes ago
But @KamalaHarris didn't just hold a conference. She established an LGBTQ hate crimes unit as DA. She sponsored a bill as AG to make California the 1st state to ban the gay panic defense. And as a Senator (last year) she introduced a bill to ban it nationwide. https://www.harris.senate.gov/news/press-releases/harris-colleagues-introduce-legislation-to-ban-use-of-gay-and-trans-panic-defense …

July 16, 2018
Harris, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Ban Use of Gay and Trans Panic Defense

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Aiming to end the use of so-called “gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses in federal court, U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris joined democratic lawmakers in the Senate and House to introduce the Gay and Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2018. “Gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses seek to excuse crimes such as murder and assault by arguing that the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity provoked the defendant’s violent reaction, blaming victims for the violence committed against them. The legislation would curtail the availability and effectiveness of the gay and trans panic defenses, a step that many in the legal community have been urging for years. Nearly 20 years ago, Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. One of Shepard’s killers raised the gay panic defense, arguing that Shepard’s unwanted sexual advances excused his violent acts.

“There is no place for prejudice against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender in our country,” said Sen. Harris. “The so-called gay and trans ‘panic’ defense allows people carry out hate crimes and denies justice to the victims of those crimes. I was proud to be part of the effort to outlaw it in California and am committed to banning it nationwide.”

As San Francisco District Attorney, Harris established an LGBTQ hate crimes unit and led efforts to ban LGBTQ “panic defenses” in criminal trials. Harris sponsored legislation as Attorney General of California which made it clear that a defendant’s discovery of a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity is not sufficient provocation to reduce a charge. The bill was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in September 2014 and California became the first state to ban the “gay panic” defense.

Several states have already taken legislative action to limit or prohibit the use of gay panic and trans panic defenses, including Illinois. Similar legislation has been introduced in New Jersey, Washington, Rhode Island, New York, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.

The Senate legislation is led by Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and co-sponsored by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.). The House bill is led by Representative Joseph Kennedy III (MA-04) and co-sponsored by Representatives Alan Lowenthal (CA-47), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-01), Raul Grijalva (AZ-03), Brian Higgins (NY-26), and David N. Cicilline (RI-01).

The legislation is endorsed by the American Bar Association, the National LGBT Bar Association, the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Equality California, and the American Unity Fund.

A copy of the legislation can be found here: https://www.markey.senate.gov/download/gay-trans-panic-defense-prohibition-act

[highplainsdem]

1. Good for her. K&R

[bigtree]

2. This year, Nevada became the 4th state to ban "gay panic" defense

Link to tweet

[keithbvadu2]

3. If "gay panic" defense is valid, then so would be race panic defense, gender panic defense, religiou

If "gay panic" defense is valid, then so would be race panic defense, gender panic defense, religious belief panic defense, and so forth.