Transgender Legislator to Abolish Gay and Trans ‘Panic Defense’

Representative Zooey Zephyr, a transgender state legislator of Montana, has proposed a bill that would outlaw the so-called gay or transgender “panic defense.” This is in response to a recent anti-trans hate crime in the state where one victim was run down by a car.

Zephyr is the Montana’s first elected, out, transgender official, having been sworn in just earlier this year. Her proposal is to prohibit “panic defense” in cases of violent crime acted against LGBTQ people. This would mean that evidence the defendant discovered about a victim’s sexuality or gender identity could not be used as acceptable justification for violent crimes.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, and Montana Women Vote were among those present for the bill’s hearing.

Late last month, a man named John P. Carr was charged with felony criminal endangerment and fleeing the scene after driving his vehicle into a person he believed to be transgender. According to witnesses, the 57-year-old yelled at the victim about being “one of those transgender people” before pinning the victim between his truck and a building. The victim was brought to the emergency department for medical care and is still recovering.

There were no objections to Zephyr’s proposal.

Montana isn’t the only state outlawing this debunked defense. In January, Lauren Book, Florida’s Senate minority leader, partnering with Representative Rita Harris, formed the Senate Bill 328 which would outlaw the panic defense in Florida. A similar bill passed in Colorado in 2020.

Analytics show that the panic defense is a successful defense for one-third of defendant cases despite the American Psychiatric Association verifiably debunking “gay panic disorder” back in 1973.

The bill has not yet entered the House or the Senate for the legalization of this legislation to be initiated.