It's Time To Outlaw The "Gay Panic Defense"

    

 

     Another victory this month for the LGBTQIA+ community, this time coming out of Colorado. The governor signed a number of laws, the first of which increases access to HIV prevention medications by mandating they be covered by insurance. The second makes it easier for minors to change their gender on their IDs, requiring only statements from medical and mental health professionals and not surgery. The third creates a fund with rebates from HIV and AIDs prevention.

     The fourth law bans the so-called "gay panic defense" in legal proceedings. The best part? This bill had 2 Democratic and 2 Republican sponsors, demonstrating that while the latter may be misguided when it comes to providing equal rights, they certainly have enough decency to know that being gay doesn't mean you should be murdered. The measure is mostly symbolic, as the defense is rarely used. However, it is a welcome move that topped state activists' agenda this year.

     What is this oddity in law? It is a defense sometimes used to try to claim that an unwanted advance from a person in the same-sex community led to a state of temporary insanity that caused them to commit assault or murder. Besides being impossible to prove, it is completely irrational and serves as a loophole that allows hate crimes to be committed.

     Luckily, Colorado joins California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Washington, Nevada, and Maine in banning the defense. Texas, New Mexico, Minnesota, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Massachusetts have all proposed bans, and bills in 2018 and 2019 at the national level have failed. With the increase momentum over the past 18 months, it is my belief that, should it continue, we will see a ban by 2022.

     The world is changing for the better and Colorado, with Jared Polis as the first openly-gay U.S. governor, is leading the way.