Michigan lawmakers introduce bill to ban ‘gay panic’ as a defense

The Michigan State Senate passed a bill on Thursday that would ban the use of “gay panic” and “trans panic” as a defense in court.

House Bill 4718 prohibits defenses that partially or fully excuse a person’s crimes, such as murder and assault, on the grounds that the victim’s sexual orientation or gender is to blame, the Michigan Advance newspaper first reported.

The bill passed by a vote of 24 to 14, with four Republican senators joining all Democrats in favor of the bill. The House of Representatives passed the bill last October in a

Democratic state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, who introduced the bill in the House last year, said during a committee hearing that the defense would be used to claim that crimes against the LGBTQ community “carry less weight because we are inherently less human and therefore less valuable,” the news agency reported.

The legislation states that “evidence of the discovery, knowledge or potential disclosure of a person’s actual or perceived sex, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation” is not admissible as evidence of “reasonable provocation” or as evidence that an act was committed “in the heat of the moment.”

More than a decade ago, the American Bar Associated called on federal and local governments to ban legal defenses that attempt to excuse crimes on the grounds that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity “accounted for the defendant’s violent response.”

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD) posted on social media platform X celebrating the Senate vote.

“Michigan is one step closer to banning LGBTQ panic as a legal defense! Bill 4718 passed the Senate in 24 hours yesterday and will now move on to the House,” GLADD wrote. “Thank you to our friends @ActionEqmi for their efforts in supporting this and other LGBTQ-friendly legislation.”

The bill now goes to the state House of Representatives for final approval before heading to the desk of Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-Michigan), who is expected to sign the bill.

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