New Hampshire Takes Step to Outlaw 'Gay and Trans Panic Defenses'
the Associated Press. Supporters of the ban said defendants have used it in other parts of the country to excuse the murder of LGBTQ+ people.Opponents of the ban said that such a ban was unnecessary in the state.
Additionally, they voiced concern about banning the use of any defense.The bill will now go to the state’s senate for a vote.Gay and trans panic defenses operate to argue provocation, Carsten Andresen, a criminal justice professor at St.
Edward’s University in Austin, Tex., recently told The Appeal. The defendant says they were provoked into violent action by the victim’s sexuality or gender identity.“I describe it like carbon monoxide,” Andresen told the website. “There’s a hazardous byproduct of putting out all these toxic ideas about gay people and other LGBTQ+ people — this idea that they’re predatory.
It’s ridiculous.”Andresen said he has been able to identify over 200 cases in the last 50 years in which these panic defenses have been used.
