TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book is reintroducing a bill for the third 12 months in a row.
It would ban Florida attorneys from utilizing what’s often known as the “gay/trans panic defense.”
“I think we’re living in a time where people think things like this don’t happen, but they do in fact happen,” Leader Book stated. “People in this community are being prayed upon and people are using this as a defense.”
In 2003, Carlos Guillermo Smith was bodily assaulted and repeatedly known as homophobic slurs.
“My attacker was not only charged with assault, he was also charged with a hate crime,” Smith stated. “In defense of that charge, my attacker used a classic example of the ‘gay panic defense’ and alleged that somehow my sexual orientation somehow provoked his attacks against me and a friend.”
He co-sponsored laws with Leader Book two periods in the past whereas he was serving as a state consultant that aimed to get rid of the “gay/trans panic defense.”
“Look, the reality is, the ‘gay/trans panic defense’ is legalized victim blaming,” he stated. “It is basically saying that a victim of hate violence had it coming simply because they are gay or transgender.”
Leader Book’s bill aims to proceed their work, banning any Florida protection lawyer from utilizing a sufferer’s sexual orientation or gender id as an affordable excuse for his or her lack of self-control.
We caught up with authorized analyst Felix Vega to break down the authorized technique.
“They’re alleging that the person that the defendant attacked was gay or transgender or a part of the LGBTQ community, and they’re saying that played into the motivation for them attacking the person defending themselves from whatever that person was doing,” Vega defined.
He says it wouldn’t be a sensible transfer by any protection lawyer.
“If they start talking and saying ‘I panicked and freaked out because they were gay and coming on to me’ or whatever the situation may be, they’re going to say, well if you freaked out and attacked the person because they’re LGBTQ, then as a prosecutor, I’m going to be like well you just proved you committed a hate crime,” Vega defined.
“So it’s counterproductive?”, requested News Channel 8’s Nicole Rogers.
“Yes,” Vega replied.
But when it’s used, Smith says it sends an announcement to victims.
“As a young gay man, someone who had survived anti-LGBTQ hate violence, when my attacker used gay panic defense against me, it sent a message that because I was openly gay that I somehow had it coming,” Smith stated.
Leader Book says her combat isn’t over.
“This is not a new issue,” she stated. “It’s the right thing to do and we will continue to fight until we are successful.”
“Say you’re not successful this session, what comes next?”, requested News Channel 8’s Nicole Rogers.
“We do it again next session,” Leader Book responded.
You can learn the bill in its entirety beneath.