After sailing through Vermont’s House and Senate earlier this year, the legislation to ban “gay or trans panic” as a legal defense for committing violent acts against LGBTQ people was signed into law by Governor Phil Scott on Wednesday.
Just before signing the bill (H.128), “An Act Relating to Limiting Criminal Defenses Based on Victim Identity,” Gov. Scott made the following remarks:
With this legislation, Republicans, Democrats and Progressives alike sent a message to Vermonters, that your identity should never be an excuse for someone to cause you harm.
What this bill does is make sure a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity can’t be used to defend or justify a criminal act, or to lower a sentence.
I want to thank Representative [Taylor] Small and the other co-sponsors of the bill, as well as the House and Senate Judiciary Committees for your leadership on this issue.
I also want to recognize those at the LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont and the members of the Pride Center of Vermont, who have been advocating for change and equality for years.
While this effort is a step in the right direction, we know there is still more work to do to ensure all Vermonters, regardless of identity, feel safe and protected in our state. I look forward to continuing our work together in the future.
Vermont now joins Connecticut, Maine and Rhode Island as New England states with laws against the gay/trans panic defense, according to the Movement Advance Project (MAP).
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