[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1721 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1721

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gay and trans panic 
                               defenses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 5, 2019

Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Harris, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. 
 Baldwin, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Hirono, 
 Mr. Merkley, and Ms. Smith) introduced the following bill; which was 
       read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gay and trans panic 
                               defenses.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Gay and Trans Panic Defense 
Prohibition Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the American Bar Association has urged the Federal 
        Government to take legislative action to curtail the 
        availability and effectiveness of the ``gay panic'' and ``trans 
        panic'' defenses, which seek to partially or completely excuse 
        crimes such as murder and assault on the grounds that the 
        sexual orientation or gender identity of the victim is 
        provocation enough for the violent reaction of the defendant;
            (2) gay and trans panic legal defenses, which continue to 
        be raised in criminal proceedings in Federal courts across the 
        United States, are surprisingly long-lived historical 
        artifacts, remnants of a time when widespread public antipathy 
        was the norm for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 
        (referred to in this Act as ``LGBT'') individuals;
            (3) gay and trans panic defenses characterize sexual 
        orientation and gender identity as objectively reasonable 
        excuses for loss of self-control, and thereby illegitimately 
        mitigate the responsibility of a perpetrator for harm done to 
        LGBT individuals;
            (4) gay and trans panic defenses appeal to irrational fears 
        and hatred of LGBT individuals, thereby undermining the 
        legitimacy of Federal criminal prosecutions and resulting in 
        unjustifiable acquittals or sentencing reductions;
            (5) the use of gay and trans panic defenses is entirely 
        incompatible with the express intent of Federal law to provide 
        increased protection to victims of bias-motivated crimes, 
        including crimes committed against LGBT individuals;
            (6) continued use of these anachronistic defenses 
        reinforces and institutionalizes prejudice at the expense of 
        norms of self-control, tolerance, and compassion, which the law 
        should encourage, and marks an egregious lapse in the march of 
        the United States toward a more just criminal justice system; 
        and
            (7) to end the antiquated notion that LGBT lives are worth 
        less than others and to reflect modern understanding of LGBT 
        individuals as equal citizens under law, gay and trans panic 
        defenses must end.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON GAY AND TRANS PANIC DEFENSES.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 1 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 28. Prohibition on gay and trans panic defenses
    ``(a) Prohibition.--No nonviolent sexual advance or perception or 
belief, even if inaccurate, of the gender, gender identity or 
expression, or sexual orientation of an individual may be used to 
excuse or justify the conduct of an individual or mitigate the severity 
of an offense.
    ``(b) Past Trauma.--Notwithstanding the prohibition in subsection 
(a), a court may admit evidence, in accordance with the Federal Rules 
of Evidence, of prior trauma to the defendant for the purpose of 
excusing or justifying the conduct of the defendant or mitigating the 
severity of an offense.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 1 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following:

``28. Prohibition on gay and trans panic defenses.''.
    (c) Report.--The Attorney General shall submit to Congress an 
annual report that details prosecutions in Federal court involving 
capital and noncapital crimes committed against LGBT individuals that 
were motivated by the victim's gender, gender identity or expression, 
or sexual orientation.
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