Virginia becomes 12th state to ban gay/trans panic defense

Virginia has become the 12th state to ban the use of the “gay/trans panic” defense.

Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill Wednesday against the defense, which has allowed those accused of homicide to receive lesser sentences by saying they panicked after finding out the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

The bill passed the state House and the Senate in February.

The bill’s author, Democratic Delegate Danica Roem said she first became aware of the defense after Matthew Shepard, a gay man, was murdered in 1998, and the men who killed him used the defense in court, according to the American Bar Association. Then, in 2004, one of the four men who were convicted of killing Gwen Araujo, a trans teenager, also used it.

Roem was a college freshman and knew she was trans when she read about Araujo’s death. It terrified her, she said.