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The gay panic defense or homosexual advance defense is a victim blaming strategy of legal defense, which refers to a situation in which a heterosexual individual charged with a violent crime against a homosexual (or bisexual) individual claims they lost control and reacted violently because of an unwanted sexual advance that was made upon them.[1][2][3][4][5] A defendant will use available legal defenses against assault and murder, with the aim of seeking an acquittal, a mitigated sentence, or a conviction of a lesser offense. A defendant may allege to have found the same-sex sexual advances so offensive or frightening that they were provoked into reacting, were acting in self-defense, were of diminished capacity, or were temporarily insane, and that this circumstance is exculpatory or mitigating.[6]
The trans panic defense is a closely related legal strategy applied in cases of assault or murder of a transgender individual whom the assailant(s) had engaged with, or were close to engaging with, in sexual relations, and claim to have been unaware that the victim was transgender,[3][4][7] producing in the attacker an alleged trans panic reaction.[8][9] In most cases, the violence or murder is perpetrated by a heterosexual man to a heterosexual trans woman.[8][9]
Broadly, the defenses may be called the "gay and trans panic defense" or the "LGBTQ+ panic defense".[6][7][10]
- ^ Harrington, Evan (24 June 2024). "The gay panic defense to murder: The role of right-wing authoritarianism using a path model". ResearchGate. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
- ^ Michalski, N. D.; Nunez, N. (2022). "When is "Gay Panic" Accepted? Exploring Juror Characteristics and Case Type as Predictors of a Successful Gay Panic Defense". Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 37 (1–2): 782–803. doi:10.1177/0886260520912595. PMID 32316819. S2CID 216073698. Archived from the original on 2023-05-03. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
- ^ a b Worthen M (2020). Queers, Bis, and Straight Lies: An Intersectional Examination of LGBTQ Stigma. Routledge. ISBN 978-1315280318. Archived from the original on 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
- ^ a b Fradella HF, Sumner JM (2016). Sex, Sexuality, Law, and (In)justice. Routledge. pp. 453–456. ISBN 978-1317528906. Archived from the original on 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
- ^ Chuang, HT; Addington, D. (October 1988). "Homosexual panic: a review of its concept". The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 33 (7): 613–7. doi:10.1177/070674378803300707. PMID 3197016. S2CID 30737407.
- ^ a b Jordan Blair Woods; Brad Sears; Christy Mallory (September 2016). "Gay and Trans Panic Defense". The Williams Institute - UCLA School of Law. Archived from the original on November 30, 2019.
- ^ a b Najdowski C, Stevenson M (2018). Criminal Juries in the 21st Century: Psychological Science and the Law. Oxford University Press. pp. 71–74. ISBN 978-0190658137. Archived from the original on 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
The gay and trans panic defenses are rooted in antiquated ideas that homosexuality and gender nonconformity are mental illnesses (Lee, 2013).
- ^ a b Feminist Analyses of Gendered Representations. Peter Lang. 2009. p. 82. ISBN 978-1433102769. Archived from the original on 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
- ^ a b Fitzgerald, Kathleen J.; Grossman, Kandice L. (2020). Sociology of Sexualities. Sage. ISBN 978-1544370651. Archived from the original on 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
- ^ "LGBTQ+ Panic Defense". The National LGBT Bar Association. Archived from the original on March 8, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2019.