California bans gay and transgender panic defense

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Roxxsmom

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mccardey

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California just became the first US state to ban the use of so-called gay and transgender panic as a defense in assault and murder cases. I have to say that I'm not so much proud of my state as I am horrified that this defense is still legal anywhere. I hope other states follow suit soon.

http://roygbiv.jezebel.com/gay-or-trans-panic-defenses-are-crap-and-now-illegal-in-1641055202

Lord. That wiki link - is that true?
A defendant using the defense claims that they acted in a state of violent temporary insanity because of a little-known psychiatric condition called homosexual panic.[3] Trans panic is a similar defense applied towards cases where the victim is a transgender or intersex person.
That's really surprising...

It's somewhat heartening to know that it often fails. Still, I can see the day when they bring in a Grumpy Old Lady Panic Defense. And I won't be happy.
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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Well, when did Lucien Carr murder David Kammerer? That was not exactly ancient history and he got off by calling it an Honor Slaying. I'm not at all surprised these types of laws are still on the books.

You young folk with your high ideals...!
 
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Viridian

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Fantastic. I'm hoping this defense doesn't work in any state anymore, but it's great to see this.

(The preview for this thread is "California bans gay and..." For a moment I thought this was going to be something bad. Ha!)
 

gingerwoman

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Ew I didn't know such a thing existed in the first place. :-(
 

regdog

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That was the defense the piece of shit who murdered Matthew Shepard used.
 

Maryn

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Often when California, New York, or Massachusetts enacts a law like this, other states follow suit pretty quickly.

All fifty would be nice.

Maryn, not hopeful for that
 

Reziac

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That was the defense the piece of shit who murdered Matthew Shepard used.

According to later information from people on the spot, this was probably a drug deal gone wrong, and the "gay panic" defense was made up to avoid admitting why they were all there in the first place, which would have been a much more certain conviction (and would have nailed everyone present).
 

Type40Human

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So, can we have a law for attractive looking femmes who get hit on for 'threesomes' by perverted men, leering over them, assuming they can 'join in' or 'turn them' straight or at least bisexual, and don't know when to take a hint and back off? A lesbian can then turn around, attack and murder the guy from 'straight panic' surely? That works, right?

Don't worry, I'm being sarcastic because I hope there isn't a law like that for us either.
 

Roxxsmom

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According to later information from people on the spot, this was probably a drug deal gone wrong, and the "gay panic" defense was made up to avoid admitting why they were all there in the first place, which would have been a much more certain conviction (and would have nailed everyone present).

The nature of the murder (wasn't this the young man who was pistol whipped, stripped, and strung up on a fence in Wyoming) a bit extreme for a drug deal gone bad? But even so, it doesn't negate the horrible attitude behind the notion that "gay panic" would be a reasonable defense for such a crime. Though this defense did not hold up, it was nonetheless taken seriously by the prosecution and the judge in the case.

That's pretty revolting, and it would be even if every single hate crime committed against LGBT people were miraculously found to be committed by people who were merely looking for an after-the-fact excuse for a murder they committed for another reason (I think the point of bringing these things up is to argue that hate crimes aren't really a thing, and so we shouldn't concern ourselves with them, but the existence of these kinds of defenses in the first place would suggest that hate crimes do exist and are even considered acceptable in some cases).
 
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KaiReader

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The same kinda law was recently scrubbed in Queensland, Australia.
Someone managed to use it successfully, which brought it into the public eye and got the ball rolling to get rid of it... It's amazing how many archaic and sometimes quite horrific laws exist!
Should be some sort of review system in place to examine and deal with these outdated laws so that they don't have to be used and abused before they're noticed :-/
 
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