New York State Capitol Building – Photo: Einar Einarsson Kvaran, via Wikimedia.
New York state lawmakers have passed a bill prohibiting the use of gay and trans “panic” defenses by criminal defendants accused of serious violent crimes.
The bill targets the use of a victim’s sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sex assigned at birth as an affirmative defense.
Typically, defendants that have employed the use of gay or trans panic defenses claim they were so shocked, frightened, or unable to control their emotions after discovering a victim’s identity that they were justified in assaulting, injuring, or even killing the victim.
Such defenses do not mean defendants are not criminally liable, but are used in the hope of obtaining a plea deal or conviction on lesser charges.
Examples of cases involving LGBTQ victims where defendants attempted to use panic as an affirmative defense include the murders of Matthew Shepard, Gwen Araujo, Ahmed Dabarran, and Angie Zapata.
The bill passed the Assembly and State Senate, and now heads to the desk of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who’s expected to sign it into law.
Once it is signed, New York will become the sixth state to pass such a bill, following California, Illinois, Rhode Island, Nevada, and Connecticut.
Cuomo praised the bill’s passage in a tweet, writing: “With the enactment of this measure we are sending this noxious legal defense strategy to the dustbin of history where it belongs. This is an important win for LGBTQ people everywhere.”
The ban on the 'gay and trans panic' legal defense just passed!
The National LGBT Bar Association praised the bill’s passage.
“As one of the nation’s leading expert on this issue, the LGBT Bar is proud to see the passage of this legislation,” the organization said in a statement. “Our organization has worked to ban such defenses for over a decade and was instrumental in the passage of the 2013 American Bar AssociationResolutioncalling for an end to this practice in court…. The LGBT Bar thanks Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his staunch support of A8375, and we look forward to him signing this crucial legislation into law.”
Glennda Testone, the executive director of New York City’s LGBT Community Center, also issued a statement praising the bill’s passage.
“The Center wholeheartedly applauds New York State lawmakers for passing a ban on the gay/trans ‘panic’ defense, ensuring that LGBTQ New Yorkers who are victims of hate crimes will no longer be blamed for the violence committed against them,” Testone said. “This legislation makes it clear that homophobia and transphobia cannot be used in our courts to justify discriminatory violence.
“The gay/trans ‘panic’ defense has been a legal strategy used in criminal cases where a defendant claims that finding out a person’s actual or assumed sexual orientation or gender identity caused an ‘extreme emotional disturbance’ that led them to violently attack that person,” Testone added. “It plays into harmful stereotypes, insinuating that it’s reasonable or justifiable to attack or murder an LGBTQ person simply because of who they are. … The significance of this victory in New York will help advocates build momentum across the country until this abhorrent practice ends everywhere, once and for all.”
Republicans have voted to overturn a Biden administration rule that prohibits discrimination against transgender students based on their gender identity.
The House of Representatives voted along party lines, 210-205, for a "disapproval resolution" calling for overturning guidance from the U.S. Department of Education, issued in April, regarding the interpretation of Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational settings.
The Biden administration has adopted the view -- based on the rationale underlying a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision on anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination -- that gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination are forms of sex-based discrimination.
Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance used his senatorial power to block the confirmations of U.S ambassadors who supported the rights and visibility of the LGBTQ community.
According to a report in The Washington Post, the newspaper received a leaked copy of a questionnaire Vance sent to diplomatic nominees to determine their stances on various LGBTQ issues.
If a nominee responded affirmatively, Vance placed a hold on their nomination, preventing them from receiving up-or-down confirmation votes in the U.S. Senate.
At the height of his campaign to weed out LGBTQ-supportive professionals, Vance placed holds on more than 30 nominees for Senate-confirmed positions at the State Department, particularly those tapped to fill assignments in Middle Eastern, African, and Asian countries.
Lia Thomas, the former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who became the first transgender woman to win an NCAA title, has lost her challenge to overturn a policy banning transgender female athletes from competing as women in elite competitions.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Thomas's request for arbitration with World Aquatics, the governing body in swimming and diving events, effectively dashing any hope she had of competing in the Olympics or elite global competitions, reports The New York Times.
The Lausanne, Switzerland-based international body, established to settle disputes related to elite sporting competitions, ruled that Thomas did not have standing to bring the case because she was not a member of its member federation -- USA Swimming -- prior to bringing her challenge.
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