Vermont’s bill to ban “gay or trans panic” as a legal defense for committing violent acts against LGBTQ people passed this week through the state’s Senate judiciary committee on an unanimous 5–0 vote, which moves it to the Senate floor.
In March, the bill (H.128) had sailed through Vermont’s House of Representatives on a 144–1 roll call vote. State Rep. Taylor Small, Vermont’s first openly trans state legislator, cosponsored the bill, and told WCAX-TV 3 at the time of the House vote that “watching all the ‘yes’ votes come in felt like a dream.”
Currently in New England, Connecticut, Maine and Rhode Island have laws against the gay/trans panic defense, while Massachusetts and New Hampshire have none, according to the Movement Advance Project (MAP). The outlook for Vermont’s bill looks promising.
Pride Center of Vermont issued the following statement:
Thank you to those who wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee and asked for their support of Rep. Taylor Small & Representative Mari Cordes’ bill to end LGBTQ+ panic defense in Vermont (H.128). Thanks to you, plus with excellent testimony from queer advocates across the state, the committee voted 5-0 this morning to pass the bill. Next stop: the Vermont Senate floor, where our 30 state senators will vote to move the bill back to the House (since there was an amendment to the bill) where we are hopeful that it will then shift to Governor Phil Scott for his signature into the law books.
Reported WCAX:
According to the American Bar Association, the panic defense is defined as “a legal strategy which asks a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity is to blame for the defendant’s violent reaction, including murder.” It’s reportedly rarely used in Vermont.
“The hope is we are putting this on the books so it doesn’t come up again in the state, even if it didn’t come up frequently beforehand,” said Small.
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