Gay panic defense

The gay panic defense or homosexual advance defense is a victim blaming strategy of legal defense, which refers to a situation in which a heterosexual individual charged with a violent crime against a same-sex attracted individual claims they lost control and reacted violently because of an unwanted sexual advance that was made upon them.<ref>Multiple references:Template:Bulleted list</ref> A defendant will use available legal defenses against assault and murder, with the aim of seeking an acquittal, a mitigated sentence, or a conviction of a lesser offense. A defendant may allege to have found the same-sex sexual advances so offensive or frightening that they were provoked into reacting, were acting in self-defense, were of diminished capacity, or were temporarily insane, and that this circumstance is exculpatory or mitigating.<ref name=williams>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Template:Vanchor is a closely related legal strategy applied in cases of assault or murder of a transgender individual whom the assailant(s) had engaged with, or were close to engaging with, in sexual relations, and claim(s) to have been unaware that the victim was transgender,<ref name="Worthen">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Fradella">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Najdowski">Template:Cite book</ref> producing in the attacker an alleged trans panic reaction.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> In most cases, the violence or murder is perpetrated by a heterosexual man against a heterosexual trans woman.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

Broadly, the defenses may be called the "gay and trans panic defense" or the "LGBTQ+ panic defense".<ref name=williams/><ref name="Najdowski"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History

The gay panic defense grew out of a combination of legal defenses from the mid-nineteenth century and a mental disorder described in the early twentieth, seeking to apply the legal framework of the temporary insanity defense, provocation defense, or self-defense, often by using the mental condition of "homosexual panic disorder".

Homosexual panic disorder

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Homosexual panic seen as a mental health disorder is distinct from the homosexual panic defense within the legal system. Whereas homosexual panic disorder was at one point considered a diagnosable medical condition, the legal defense implies only a temporary loss of self-control.<ref name="LGBT Bar">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Edward J. Kempf, a psychiatrist,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> coined the term "homosexual panic" in 1920. He identified it as a condition of "panic due to the pressure of uncontrollable perverse sexual cravings",<ref name="Kempf">Template:Cite book</ref> and classified it as an acute pernicious dissociative disorder, meaning that it involved a disruption in typical perception and memory functions.Template:Citation needed Kempf identified the condition during and after World War I at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C.<ref name="Suffredini-2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The disorder was briefly included in DSM-1 as a supplementary term in Appendix C<ref name="DSM-1">Template:Cite book</ref> but did not appear in any subsequent editions of DSM and thus is not considered a diagnosable condition by the American Psychiatric Association.<ref name="DSM">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Unlike the legal defense created later and named after it, the onset of the condition was not attributed to unwanted homosexual advances. Rather, Kempf stated that it was caused by the individual's own "aroused homosexual cravings".<ref name=Glick>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Types of defenses

The gay panic defense strategy usually falls into three categories of defenses: the provocation defense, self defense (including imperfect self defense) and insanity based defenses (including temporary insanity, irresistible impulse, and diminished responsibility).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The gay panic defense is not a stand-alone defense, but rather a legal tactic used by the defense which seeks to obtain an acquittal, a mitigated sentence, or a conviction of a lesser offense.<ref name="auto"/>

The defense is commonly defined by the attempt to shift the blame onto the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity of the victim as a form of victim blaming.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="auto" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Jurisdictions

Australia

In Australia, it is known as the "homosexual advance defence" (HAD).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Of the status of the HAD in Australia, Kent Blore wrote in 2012:<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite journal</ref>

In Australia, as of 2023, all Australian states have either abolished the provocation defense altogether (Tasmania in 2003, Victoria in 2005, Western Australia in 2008 and South Australia in 2020), or have restricted its application. Queensland restricted the defense of provocation in 2011, and further restricted it in 2017 (with a clause to allow it in 'exceptional circumstances' to be determined by a magistrate).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In a differing approach, New South Wales, the ACT and Northern Territory have implemented changes to stipulate that non-violent sexual advances (of any kind, including homosexual) are not a valid defense.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> In New South Wales, the law on provocation was amended to provide that the provocative conduct of the deceased must also have constituted a serious indictable offense.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Garry Wait, a 20-year-old waiter, mounted an unsuccessful gay panic defence after being charged with the murder of 63-year-old former federal MP Bill Arthur in 1982. Wait pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter, on the grounds that Arthur had made "homosexual advances". The jury rejected his account of the killing, convicting him of murder. He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

South Australia was the first Australian jurisdiction to legalize consensual homosexual acts in 1975; however, Template:As of it was the only Australian jurisdiction not to have repealed or overhauled the gay panic defense.<ref name="SALRI Report">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2015, the South Australian state government was awaiting<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the report from the South Australian Law Reform Institute and the outcome of the appeal to the High Court from the Court of Criminal Appeal of South Australia. In 2011, Andrew Negre was killed by Michael Lindsay bashing and stabbing him. Lindsay's principal defense was that he stabbed Negre in the chest and abdomen but Negre's death was the result of someone else slitting Negre's throat. The secondary defense was that Lindsay's action in stabbing Negre was because he had lost self-control after Negre made sexual advances towards him and offered to pay Lindsay for sex. The jury convicted Lindsay of murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 23-year non-parole period. The Court of Criminal Appeal upheld the conviction, finding that the directions to the jury on the gay panic defense were flawed, but that every reasonable jury would have found that an ordinary person would not have lost self-control and acted in the way Lindsay did.<ref>Template:Cite AustLII</ref> The High Court held that a properly instructed jury might have found that an offer of money for sex made by a Caucasian man to an Aboriginal man in the latter's home and in the presence of his wife and family may have had a pungency that an unwelcome sexual advance made by one man toward another in other circumstances would not have.<ref>Template:Cite AustLII</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lindsay was re-tried and was again convicted of murder. The Court of Criminal Appeal upheld the conviction,<ref>Template:Cite AustLII</ref> and an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court was dismissed.<ref>Template:Cite AustLII</ref> In April 2017, the South Australian Law Reform Institute recommended that the law of provocation be reformed to remove discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender, but that the removal of a non-violent sexual advance as a partial defence to murder be deferred until stage 2 of the report was produced.<ref name="SALRI Report" /> Finally, in 2020, South Australia abolished the defense of provocation altogether.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

New Zealand

In 2003, a gay interior designer and former television host, David McNee, was killed<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> by a part-time sex worker, Phillip Layton Edwards. Edwards said at his trial that he told McNee he was not gay, but would masturbate in front of him on a "no-touch" basis for money. The defense successfully argued that Edwards, who had 56 previous convictions and had been on parole for 11 days, was provoked into beating McNee after he violated their "no touching" agreement. Edwards was jailed for nine years for manslaughter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In July 2009, Ferdinand Ambach, 32, a Hungarian tourist, was convicted of killing Ronald Brown, 69, by hitting him with a banjo and shoving the instrument's neck down Brown's throat. Ambach was initially charged with murder, but the charge was downgraded to manslaughter after Ambach's lawyer successfully invoked the gay panic defense.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On November 26, 2009, the New Zealand Parliament voted to abolish Section 169 of the Crimes Act 1961, removing the provocation defense from New Zealand law, although it was argued by some that this change was more a result of the failed provocation defense in the Sophie Elliott murder trial by her ex-boyfriend.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Philippines

Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton, a U.S. Marine from Massachusetts, was convicted of homicide (but not of murder) in the killing of Jennifer Laude in a motel room in Olongapo in the Philippines in 2014. Police said that Pemberton became enraged after discovering that Laude was transgender. After Pemberton served six years of a ten-year sentence, President Rodrigo Duterte gave him an absolute pardon. Sen. Imee Marcos said the pardon would help the Philippines maintain "very deep and very cordial" relations with the US.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

United Kingdom

Guidance given to counsel by the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales states: "The fact that the victim made a sexual advance on the defendant does not, of itself, automatically provide the defendant with a defence of self-defence for the actions that they then take." In the UK, it has been known for decades as the "Portsmouth defence"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> or the "guardsman's defence".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The latter term was used in a 1980 episode of Rumpole of the Bailey.

In December 2024, the CPS issued updated guidance regarding "deception as to sex" in sexual assault cases.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The guidance suggests that deception or non-disclosure about one's birth sex could impact consent, and such cases may result in criminal charges.Template:Relevance inline

United States

Federal laws

In 2018, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Representative Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) introduced S.3188<ref>Template:USBill</ref> and H.R.6358,<ref>Template:USBill</ref> respectively, which would ban the gay and trans panic defense at the national level. Both bills died in committee.<ref name="advocate.com"/><ref name="gaystarnews.com"/>

In June 2019, the bill was reintroduced in both houses of Congress as the Gay and Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2019 (S.1721 and H.R.3133).<ref>Template:USBill</ref><ref>Template:USBill</ref> The bills would prohibit a federal criminal defendant from asserting, as a defense, that the nonviolent sexual advance of an individual or a perception or belief of the gender, gender identity, or expression, or sexual orientation of an individual excuses or justifies conduct or mitigates the severity of an offense.<ref name="advocate.com"/><ref name="gaystarnews.com"/> Similarly to S.3188, after being sent to committee, the bill died at the end of 2020, and was re-introduced (as S.1137) in April 2021.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was reintroduced in January 2023.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

State laws

File:Gay and trans panic defense bans in the United States.svg

States that have bans (blue) on the gay and trans panic defense, as of 2024

In 2006, the California State Legislature amended the Penal Code to include jury instructions to ignore bias, sympathy, prejudice, or public opinion in making their decision, and a directive was made to educate district attorneys' offices about panic strategies and how to prevent bias from affecting trial outcomes.<ref>Template:Cite California statute</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Template:Poemquote</ref> The American Bar Association (ABA) unanimously passed a resolution in 2013 urging governments to follow California's lead in prescribing explicit juror instructions to ignore bias and to educate prosecutors about panic defenses.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=ABA-2013/>

Following the ABA's resolution in 2013, the LGBT Bar is continuing to work with concerned lawmakers at the state level to help ban the use of this tactic in courtrooms across the country.<ref name=ABA-2013>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bans and consideration of bans for gay and trans panic defense

State	Considered	Banned	Bill	Ref
California	—	2014	AB2501	<ref name=CA-AB2501/>
Illinois	—	2017	SB1761	<ref name=IL-SB1761/>
Rhode Island	—	2018	H7066aa/S3014	<ref name=RI-H7066aa/>
Connecticut	—	2019	SB-0058	<ref name=CT-SB0058/>
Hawaii	—	2019	HB711	<ref name=HI-HB711/>
Maine	—	2019	LD1632	<ref name=ME-LD1632/>
Nevada	—	2019	SB97	<ref name=NV-SB97/>
New York	2014	—	S7048	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	2015		A5467/S499	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	2017		A5001/S50	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	—	2019	A2707/S3293	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=NY-S3293/>
New Jersey	2015	—	A4083	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	2016		A429	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	2018	2020	A1796/S2609	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Washington, D.C.	2017	—	B22-0102	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	—	2020	B23-0409	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Georgia	2018	—	HB931	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Wisconsin	2019	—	AB436	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Washington	2019	2020	HB1687	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Pennsylvania	2020	—	HB2333	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Colorado	—	2020	SB20-221	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Texas	2020	—	HB73	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Virginia	—	2021	HB2132	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Maryland	—	2021	HB231	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Oregon	—	2021	HB3020/SB704	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Vermont	—	2021	HB128	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Florida	2021	—	SB718	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Iowa	2021	—	HF310	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
New Mexico	2021	2022	SB213	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Minnesota	2021	—	SF360	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Massachusetts	2021	—	HD2275/SD1183	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Nebraska	2021	—	LB321	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Arkansas	2022	—	LB321
North Carolina	2022	—	LB321
New Hampshire	2021	—	HB238	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	—	2023	HB315	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Delaware		2023	HB142	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Minnesota		2024	HB5216	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Michigan		2024	HB4718	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On September 27, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill No. 2501, making California the first state in the US to ban the gay and trans panic defense.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> AB 2501 states that discovery of, knowledge about, or potential disclosure of the victim's actual or perceived gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation does not, by itself, constitute sufficient provocation to justify a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.<ref name=CA-AB2501>Template:Cite California statuteTemplate:Poemquote</ref>

In August 2017, Bruce Rauner, Governor of Illinois, signed SB1761,<ref name=IL-SB1761>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> banning the gay and trans panic defenses in that state.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2018, H7066aa and S3014,<ref name=RI-H7066aa>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> bills to prohibit the gay and trans panic defense passed the Rhode Island Assembly with overwhelming margins: The House voted 68–2<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Senate voice voted 27–0.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Governor of Rhode Island signed the bill into law a month later in July 2018. The law went into effect immediately.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2019, the New York State Legislature once again considered banning the gay panic defense.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For the 2019–2020 session, the bills considered were S3293 and A2707; prior versions of the bill have died in committee (S7048, 2013–14 session; A5467/S499, 2015–16 session; A5001/S50, 2017–18 session).<ref name=NY-S3293>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On June 30, 2019, the day of the NYC Pride March, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the ban into law, effective immediately.<ref name="cnn-30jun2019">Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 2019, both houses of the Hawaii State Legislature passed bills to prohibit the gay and trans panic defense (HB711 and SB2). A conference committee was set up to reconcile the two versions of the bill; the reconciled bill passed both houses on April 26, 2019, and was signed into law two months later, on June 26, 2019, by the Governor David Ige. It went into effect immediately.<ref name=HI-HB711>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=HI-SB2>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 2019, the Nevada Legislature passed SB97 to prohibit the gay and trans panic defense used within Nevada state courts and tribunals. On May 14, 2019, Governor Steve Sisolak signed SB97 into law. The law went into effect on October 1, 2019.<ref name=NV-SB97>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2019, the Connecticut General Assembly passed SB-0058 unanimously to prohibit the trans and gay panic defense. The bill was signed into law by Governor Ned Lamont.<ref name=CT-SB0058>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The law went into effect on October 1, 2019, as per the rules governed under the Constitution of Connecticut.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Also in June 2019, the Maine Legislature passed a bill (House vote 132–1 and Senate vote 35–0), which was signed by Governor Janet Mills on June 21, 2019, to ban the "gay and trans panic defense" effective immediately.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=ME-LD1632>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

New Jersey passed a bill without a single vote in opposition to ban the gay and trans panic defense; it was signed into law in January 2020.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In February 2020, the Washington State Legislature passed a bill (House vote 90–5 with 3 excused and Senate vote 46–3) to abolish the gay panic defense. The bill was signed into law in March 2020, by the Governor of Washington State Jay Inslee. Washington state became the tenth US state to ban the gay panic defense when the law went into effect in June 2020.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In July 2020, Colorado became the 11th US state to abolish the gay panic defense. The final vote was 63–1–1 in the House and 35–0 in the Senate. <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In December 2020, the Council of the District of Columbia unanimously voted on a bill to ban the use of the "gay and trans panic defense". Mayor Muriel Bowser said she would sign the measure. The bill will then go to Capitol Hill for a 30 legislative day review by Congress, required by the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As of January 2021, similar bills have been introduced in several other states.<ref name="advocate.com">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="gaystarnews.com">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Which

In 2023, New Hampshire enacted HB 315, sponsored by Rep. Shaun Filiault.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The state officially became the first Republican-controlled state to abolish the gay and trans panic defense, and went into effect on midnight January 1, 2024.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Effective from August 1, 2024, Minnesota implemented a law explicitly banning the gay and trans panic defense within an omnibus justice bill passed and signed into law in May 2024.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Michigan legislature passed a ban on the use of the gay and trans panic defense on June 27, 2024.<ref name="michigan bill" /> The bill was signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer on July 23, 2024.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Use of the gay panic defense

The gay panic defense is invoked as an affirmative defense, but only to strengthen a more "traditional criminal law defense such as insanity, diminished capacity, provocation, or self-defense" and is not meant to provide justification of the crime on its own.<ref name="Lee2008">Template:Cite journal</ref> While using the gay panic defense to explain insanity has typically not been successful in winning a complete acquittal, diminished capacity, provocation, and self-defense have all been used successfully to reduce charges and sentences.<ref name="Lee2008" />

Historically, in US courts, use of the gay panic defense has not typically resulted in the acquittal of the defendant; instead, the defendant was usually found guilty, but on lesser charges, or judges and juries may have cited homosexual solicitation as a mitigating factor, resulting in reduced culpability and sentences.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1995, the tabloid talk show The Jenny Jones Show filmed an episode titled "Revealing Same Sex Secret Crush". Scott Amedure, a 32-year-old gay man, publicly revealed on the program that he was a secret admirer of Jonathan Schmitz, a 24-year old straight man. Three days after the episode was filmed, Schmitz confronted and killed Amedure.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Schmitz was tried for the first-degree murder of Scott Amedure; however, he was convicted on the lesser offense of second-degree murder after asserting the gay panic defense.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Uses of the trans panic defense

• In the 1997 murder of Chanelle Pickett, William C. Palmer claimed that he attacked Pickett after discovering she "was actually a man". However, when the victim's sister and other witnesses revealed that Palmer was aware of Pickett's trans status, Palmer abandoned this defense.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• A trans panic defense was used in 2004–2005 in California by the three defendants in the Gwen Araujo homicide case, who claimed that they were enraged by the discovery that Araujo, a transgender teenager with whom they had engaged in sex, had a penis. Following their initial suspicions about her birth-assigned sex, Araujo was "subjected to forced genital exposure in the bathroom, after which it was announced that she was 'really a manTemplate:'".<ref name="Bettcher2007">Template:Cite journal</ref> The defendants claimed that Araujo's failure to disclose her birth-assigned sex and anatomy was tantamount to deception, and that the subsequent revelation of her birth-assigned sex "had provoked the violent response to what Thorman represented as a sexual violation 'so deep it's almost primalTemplate:'".<ref name="Bettcher2007" /> The first trial resulted in a jury deadlock; in the second, defendants Mike Magidson and Jose Merél were convicted of second-degree murder, while the jury again deadlocked in the case of Jason Cazares. Cazares later entered a plea of no contest to charges of voluntary manslaughter. The jury did not return the requested hate crime additions to the convictions for the defendants.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Angie Zapata was beaten to death by Allen Andrade in July 2008. After Andrade learned that Zapata had a penis, she smiled at him and said "I'm all woman"; his defense attorney stated the smile "was a highly provoking act, and it would cause someone to have an aggressive reaction" when arguing to have the charge against him dropped to second-degree murder. Judge Marcelo Kopcow rejected that argument,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Andrade was sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder in 2009 after two hours of deliberation. The conviction included a hate crime endorsement, believed to be the first instance of a hate crime application when the victim was transgender.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Islan Nettles was beaten to death in Harlem just after midnight on August 17, 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The killer, James Dixon, was not indicted until March 2015, despite turning himself in three days after the attack and confessing that he had flown into "a blind fury" when he realized that Nettles was a transgender woman.<ref name="NYT-160402">Template:Cite news</ref> Dixon pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter at his indictment.<ref name="NYT-150303">Template:Cite news</ref> Dixon was not charged with murder, which would have required proof of intent, nor was he charged with a hate crime.<ref name="NYT-150303" /> During his confession, Dixon said that his friends had mocked him for flirting with Nettles, not realizing that she was transgender. Furthermore, in an incident a few days prior to the beating, his friends had teased him after he flirted with two transgender women while he was doing pull-ups on a scaffolding at 138th Street and Eighth Avenue.<ref name="NYT-160402" /> Dixon pleaded guilty and received a sentence of 12 years' imprisonment, a sentence that Nettles' mother felt was too lenient.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• Template:Anl
• Homohysteria
• Transgender discrimination
• Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize those who have been killed by transphobia

Further reading

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External links

• Text of the "Gay Panic" Defense ruling in the Matthew Shepard Murder Trial at Court TV
• "They asked for it", article by Michael Lindenberger in The Advocate
• Guidance on Prosecuting Cases of Homophobic Crime by the Crown Prosecution Service
• LGBTQ+ "Panic" Defense at the National LGBT Bar Association