PROVIDENCE — With only one lawmaker voicing opposition, the Rhode Island House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation that, in effect, bars jurors from considering “gay or trans panic” as a legal defense for a violent act.
The vote was 68-to-2 for the legislation which House Judiciary Committee Chairman Cale Keable reflects a resolution passed by the American Bar Association House of Delegates. The two dissenting votes were cast by Democratic Rep. James McLaughlin and Republican Rep. Justin Price.
The legislation says, in part: “A person is not justified in using force against another based on the discovery of, knowledge about or potential disclosure of the victim’s actual or perceived gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation... [including] circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted non-forcible romantic or sexual advance toward the defendant.”
As explained in a General Assembly press release: “The legislation, which now goes to the Senate, would prevent the use of any defense in a trial that claims the perpetrator was either provoked, suffering from diminished mental capacity or attempting self-defense as a result of discovering the victim’s actual or perceived gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.”
The lead sponsor, Rep. Kenneth Marshall, was later quoted as saying, “I consider this common-sense legislation ... A victim is a victim, and no victim’s life is worth less than another’s because of his or her gender identity or sexuality.”
“The American Bar Association, which includes defense attorneys, has urged states to change laws to de-legitimize this defense, and Rhode Island should join those states that do not allow it to be used to warp justice,″ Marshall said.
While it is somewhat rarely used and has often been rejected by courts, the gay panic defense was used this month in Texas, when a jury recommended only 10 years probation for a man who stabbed his neighbor to death. The former police employee claimed that the killing was self-defense and that he was in a “gay panic” after being hit on by another man. Read more via Providence Journal