“To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit defenses based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section declares congressional findings that urge the elimination of "panic defenses" based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression (i.e., defenses that excuse or mitigate crimes such as murder or assault due to the victim's LGBTQ status) in federal criminal proceedings. The findings cite the American Bar Association's call for legislative action; describe such defenses as outdated artifacts rooted in historical prejudice against LGBTQ individuals; assert that they undermine federal prosecutions, bias-crime protections, and norms of self-control and tolerance; and conclude that they must end to affirm the equal worth of LGBTQ lives.
This section establishes in 18 U.S.C. § 28 a prohibition on "panic defenses" (i.e., claims of provocation by a nonviolent sexual advance or any perception or belief, even if inaccurate, regarding an alleged victim's gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation) to excuse or justify a defendant's conduct or mitigate an offense's severity in federal criminal cases. It permits courts to admit evidence of a defendant's prior trauma for those purposes under the Federal Rules of Evidence. It further requires the Attorney General to submit an annual report to Congress detailing federal prosecutions of capital and noncapital crimes against LGBTQ individuals motivated by the victim's gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation.