S. 2201 — LGBTQ+ Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2025

This section states congressional findings condemning "panic defenses" (i.e., legal defenses excusing crimes such as murder or assault based on provocation from a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity or expression) as outdated artifacts that undermine federal prosecutions of bias-motivated crimes against LGBTQ individuals and must end to advance equal justice.

This section prohibits, in federal criminal proceedings, the use of any nonviolent sexual advance or perception or belief—even if inaccurate—about an individual's gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation (i.e., "panic defenses") to excuse or justify a defendant's conduct or mitigate an offense's severity. It permits courts to admit evidence of a defendant's prior trauma for those purposes under the Federal Rules of Evidence.

This section requires the Attorney General to submit to Congress an annual report detailing prosecutions in federal court involving capital and noncapital crimes committed against LGBTQ individuals that were motivated by the victim’s gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation.