10 June 2017

Legalized LGBT Murder

In all but two states, murder suspects can use "gay panic" and "trans panic" as valid defenses when on trial. And sometimes it works.

For instance, if a gay man comes on verbally to a straight man, the latter could try to use a "gay panic" defense if he murders the gay man.

The idea here is that a straight man is allegedly be so traumatized by the way a gay man interacted with him that he had no other choice than to kill him.

California successfully banned this defense several years ago. Illinois legislators recently approved a similar measure and the governor will soon sign into law.

Other states, however, recently failed to pass legislation like this -- for instance, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

This is indefensible. Murder is murder. A man would not be allowed to claim a "sexual panic" defense if he killed a woman who aggressively flirted with him, so there's utterly no valid reason a different standard should apply if the victim happens to be LGBT.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous04:14

    Que horror.Amigo venezolano,Cucuta

    ReplyDelete

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