ABOVE: Sen. Democratic Leader Lauren Book (L) and Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith. Photos via Facebook.
TALLAHASSEE | Florida lawmakers filed Senate Bill 374 and House Bill 205 Sept. 28, legislation to ban the use of the an LGBTQ “panic defense,” used to legally defend assaults and deadly attacks on members of the community.
SB 374 was filed by Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book, who represents Plantation, while HB 205 was filed by Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando. Each would “disallow the legal strategy of asking a jury to find that a crime victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity caused the defendant to ‘panic’ and react violently.”
“It is discriminatory and unacceptable for LGBTQIA+ individuals to be held responsible for their own assaults or even murders on the grounds of simply being themselves,” Book said in a press release. She first introduced legislation to prohibit the practice last year.
“The current state of the law which allows someone to assault another person simply based on sexual or gender identity cannot stand – the use of a ‘panic’ defense is essentially doing legal gymnastics to defend a hate crime,” Book concluded.
“As a survivor of hate violence, I understand how gay or trans ‘panic defense’ can be used as a legal strategy to justify or excuse violence against the LGBTQ community,” Smith added. “It happened to me.
“The continued use of panic defense in legal proceedings perpetuates anti-LGBTQ bias and shifts blame onto the victims of violent crimes rather than their perpetrators,” he continued, “which is why Florida must follow the lead of several states who passed laws prohibiting its use in court.”
According to the Human Rights Campaign, last year was the deadliest year on record for members of the LGBTQ community. At least 37 transgender and gender nonconfirming people were violently killed.
“These victims, like all of us, were loving partners, parents, family members, friends and community members,” HRC Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative shared lasted November. “They were real people – people who did not deserve to have their lives taken from them.”
According to the Florida Senate’s press release, legal defense teams continue to utilize LGBTQ “panic disorder” in their legal defenses, with one-third of cases resulting in charges were reduced for the defendants. While the American Bar Association has called on states to take legislative action to end its use since 2013, only 15 have done so.
States with bans include New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Illinois and California. The lawmakers hope Florida will become the 16th.
Read the full text of SB 374 here and the full text of HB 205 here.
