The law prohibits using a victim’s sexuality or gender identity as justification for criminal action.
Michigan has outlawed the so-called gay and trans panic defense, which allows criminal defense attorneys to use a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity as a defense argument.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signed House Bill 4718 into law Tuesday. The legislation states that an individual’s “actual or perceived sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation” is not admissible in a criminal trial to “demonstrate reasonable provocation,” “show that an act was committed in a heat of passion” or “support a defense of reduced mental capacity.”
In a statement shared on Tuesday, the governor’s office said the bill “significantly expands” protections for the LGBTQ community “by protecting them from violent acts of discrimination, prejudice, and hate crimes.”
In case anyone else is wondering:
Source: https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/panic_defense_bans
OFC, the state that calls itself “Best Virginia” is not one of the 20.
Interesting how you could change the label on this map to be literal anything good/bad and it would be accurate in almost all cases. Maybe both parties are not the same after all.
Not that it has anything to do with the topic at hand, but the map shows the Great Salt Lake!