Gay panic is a criminal defense where the defendant claims temporary insanity due to the victim’s sexual orientation or gender. It is used to reduce guilt and penalties, but critics argue it is outdated and should be treated as a hate crime. Prosecutors are fighting against its use.
Gay panic is a rarely used criminal defense in which the defendant claims he was so offended or disturbed by the revelation that the victim was homosexual that a state of temporary insanity occurred. One of the most high-profile cases in which the gay panic defense was used involved Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was brutally murdered in 1998 due to his sexual orientation.
According to the logic of this defense, an offender is thrown into a state of intense confusion and turmoil when the victim’s sexual orientation or gender is revealed. This state rendered the defendant temporarily unable to distinguish between right and wrong, thus leading to an assault or murder as the defendant “instinctively” struck the victim. Gay panic could occur as a result of sexual advances, advocates who use this defense argue, or it could occur when a transgender individual is outed, as in the case of Gwen Araujo, a trans woman who was killed in 2002.
This defense is intended to reduce the defendant’s guilt in the eyes of the jury, thereby engendering a reduced sentence. Defendants who use the gay panic defense are rarely acquitted outright, but gay panic can be viewed as a mitigating circumstance that warrants a reduction in penalties.
Critics of this defense argue that since homosexuality is becoming much more accepted in society, the likelihood of fully panicking at the disclosure of someone’s sexual orientation is unlikely. Additionally, the gay panic defense has been used in cases where premeditation was involved, suggesting that the defendant had time to calm down and consider the situation, and decided to proceed with the crime anyway.
Opponents of the gay panic defense would like to see cases like these prosecuted as hate crimes, as well as being treated as cases of assault or murder. They suggest that people who assault people based on their sexual or gender orientation are fully aware of what they are doing, and while they may proceed with such assaults due to violent emotions, they are not in a state of temporary insanity. Prosecutors in different regions of the world have banded together to fight the gay panic advocacy, arguing they will crack down on defense teams who try to use it.
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