South Australia, the only province where ‘gay panic’ defence is still legitimate, is moving to outlaw the excuse used to defend violence against the LGBTQ+ community after a bill was proposed to the area’s local parliament on Thursday 15 October.
Once passed, it will be entirely outlawed in Australia. Gay panic is an umbrella term for when a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is used to legitimise violence against them; it has often been used to excuse assaults and murders.
According to Reuters, the district’s attorney-general, Vickie Chapman, said the notion of gay panic “is outdated, gender-biased, difficult to understand and, in certain cases, downright offensive.”The move to outlaw the form of legal defence came after more.