The LGBT Bar Association defines the “panic defense” 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.”Īn openly gay lawmaker, Candelaria says the “panic defense” has no place in a courtroom.
“You can use the fact that you discovered someone was gay or trans, or they made a non-violent romantic pass at you as a defense,” said Sen. The 7-year senator says his upcoming legislative proposal aims to address what he calls an “ongoing problem in America” that the American Bar Association has called upon states and Congress to stop. “These vestiges of an age where gay people were feared and targeted and assaulted need to end, and they need to end in New Mexico,” said Senator Candelaria in an interview with KRQE News 13 Tuesday. Now a few New Mexico lawmakers are looking to put a stop to the so-called “gay-trans panic defense” with a new law.Ī Democrat representing Albuquerque’s west side, Senator Jacob Candelaria, says he will soon introduce a bill to outlaw the use of a victim’s gender, gender identity or sexual orientation as a criminal defense in specific cases. Advocates say it’s a courtroom defense rooted in homophobia, that’s used to justify crimes against the gay community.
