The bill was introduced to challenge existing gay and trans panic defence laws that allow perpetrators to argue an individual’s sexual orientation (or gender identity) is the cause of violent behaviour.
HB 2132 argues that the belief of a person’s sex, gender or gender identity does not qualify as a defence to an act of murder, assault, or additional crime. “The discovery of, perception of, or belief about another person’s actual or perceived sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, whether or not accurate, is not a defence to any charge of capital murder … assault and bodily wounding-related crimes and is not provocation negating or excluding malice as an element of murder,” the bill reads.