Lawmakers in Maryland and Virginia have introduced bills that would ban the so-called LGBTQ panic defense in their respective states.
Virginia state Del. Danica Roem (D-Manassas) last week introduced House Bill 2132, which states a victim’s actual or perceived personal characteristics that include gender identity or sexual orientation is not a defense to murder and other violent acts.
The Manassas Democrat — the first openly trans person elected to a state legislature in the U.S. — on Monday presented a budget amendment for the bill as required by state law. “Preventing the LGBTQ+ ‘panic defense’ to be used as a ‘legitimate’ mechanism in our court system shows that LGBTQ+ lives and bodies are equal to all in the eyes of the law and that our