Michigan becomes 20th state to outlaw ‘gay panic’ defense

LANSING, MI – Michigan is now the 20th state in the U.S. to outlaw legal arguments that someone’s sexual orientation justified assaulting them.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law the bill on Tuesday, July 23, banning the defense commonly referred to as “gay panic” or “LGBTQ+ panic.”

Under the new law, which goes into effect Oct. 23, a person charged with a violent crime can’t seek to reduce or evade criminal liability on claims that they lost control and reacted violently because of the victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

“I have been incredibly passionate about this bill for several years, and I am elated to see it signed into law. Protecting the future of LGBTQ+ people across Michigan is something I have been working hard to do,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia.

“This bill, alongside many other monumental pieces of legislation brought forth by Michigan Democrats, is a huge step toward securing a safe and inclusive state for all Michiganders.”

The bill was sent to the governor after passing along party lines June 27 in the state House, with Republicans voting against the bill. In the state Senate, Republican Sens. Mark Huizenga, Dan Lauwers, Jonathan Lindsey and Ed McBroom joined with Democrats on approving the bill.

Michigan set to become 20th state outlawing ‘gay panic’ defense

According to the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, Michigan is the 20th state to ban the gay panic defense.

Michigan has had at least four cases between 1970 and 2020 where a murder defendant used the gay panic defense, according to a 2020 study by W. Cartsen Andresen, a professor at St. Edward’s University in Texas.

The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association said that it has tracked dozens of cases across the U.S. where juries have acquitted defendants due to the LGBTQ+ panic defense strategy. The crimes in those cases ranged from assault to murder.

Under Michigan’s new law, a person is not justified in using force against another person based on the discovery or knowledge of the victim’s sex, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.

That discovery or knowledge also is not permitted as evidence to demonstrate reasonable provocation, to show that an act was committed in the heat of passion or to support a defense of reduced mental capacity.

Victims’ sexuality can be used to justify crimes. Legislation could stop it.

One of the most infamous cases of the use of the defense was the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming. Shepard, 21, was driven to a remote area by two men who then brutally beat him, tied him to a fence and left him to die.

Lawyers defending one of Shepard’s killers argued his client was partly triggered by an unwanted sexual advance by Shepard and previous traumatic experiences with LGBTQ+ people. The judge did not allow the defense.