Thirteen states have already passed laws banning the “panic” defense, a legal strategy used to justify anti-LGBTQ+ violence in court. Oregon could soon be next, with legislation banning the discriminatory tactic headed to the governor’s desk after passing the House and Senate with near-unanimous accord.
According to its text, Senate Bill 704 would mandate that a victim’s actual or perceived LGBTQ+ identity “does not constitute reasonable explanation for extreme emotional disturbance” in cases of violence or homicide. First used in the post-Stonewall era of the 1970s, criminal defendants have been known to “panic” defense in order to blame an act of brutality on discovery of the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity, such as in the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard.
While the “panic” defense is thought to be infrequently used, State Senator Kate Lieber (D-14th District) said it is cited in a textbook at Portland Community College, where she has been a professor of law for a decade.
“The first time I taught out of this book, I was startled to see the gay panic defense appear,” Lieber, a lead sponsor of the bill, told the Portland Oregonian. “That textbook is in its 12th edition, and to this day, 10 years later, gay panic still appears in its adequate provocation section. This is why Senate Bill 704 is so vitally important.”
SB 704 was met with almost universal approval in both houses of the Oregon State Legislature. Just one lawmaker voted against the legislation when it passed the State Senate 29 to 1 in April: Dallas Heard (R-2nd District), who has reportedly voted against every bill that has come up in the chambers this year as a protest against the shutdown of the State Capitol due to COVID-19. It was approved in the House 54 to 0.
The legislation must be approved by Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, before becoming law, but she is extremely likely to sign it. A second-term Democrat, Brown is the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve as governor of a U.S. state. She is bisexual.
LGBTQ+ lawmakers celebrated the bill’s probable enactment. State Representative Rob Nosse (D-42nd District), who is a gay man, said that SB 704 “sends a strong message to LGBTQ+ Oregonians that our state does not stand for violence based on gender or sexual orientation.”
“LGBTQ+ Oregonians deserve to feel safe, and know that the state does not excuse violence perpetrated against them because of their gender or sexual orientation,” Nosse said in a statement cited by the local CBS news affiliate KDRV, adding that the legislation’s passage “shows them that we care about their livelihood, and that we are willing to act to hold attackers accountable.” “It shows them that we see them, and we are working for them.”
Should SB 704 be officially signed into law, Oregon will join states like California, Colorado, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York in taking action to ban the “panic” defense from being used in court. Both Vermont and Virginia signed legislation to outlaw the legal practice this year, while a bill in Maryland is currently awaiting the signature of its Republican governor, Larry Hogan.
That milestone would be particularly meaningful for Dana Spears, who testified on behalf of SB 704 in the Oregon legislature following the 2020 murder of her transgender sister, Aja Raquell Rhone-Spears. Rhone-Spears, who was 34 at the time of her death, was stabbed after attending a vigil for anti-trans violence.
“She was the favorite aunt amongst her nieces and nephews, and it was easy to see why—she was cool, stylish, adventurous, and was an entrepreneur,” Spears told the Portland Mercury after the House voted to pass the legislation. “But you could also find her close to home, helping her siblings take care of our father… it’s obvious family meant everything to Aja.”
Rhone-Spears was one of a record 44 transgender people to lose their lives to violence in 2020 — the majority of whom, like her, were Black women. According to Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) data cited by Democratic lawmakers during debate, anti-trans hate crimes increased 500% between 2013 and 2018.
Basic Rights Oregon, a statewide LGBTQ+ advocacy organization that backed SB 704 in the legislature, said the bill had special significance for transgender Oregonians as the epidemic of anti-trans homicides continues into 2021. So far this year, at least 23 transgender people have lives have been taken, which threatens to surpass last year’s tally. These killings include 7 in just the month of April alone.
“The importance of this legislation can’t be overstated since it does something we don’t see very often,” said Mikki Gillette, the major gifts officer for Basic Rights Oregon, in a press release. “This legislation says, unequivocally, in Oregon, there is never an excuse for violence against transgender people.”
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