Lamont signs legislation banning 'gay panic' as legal defense
Posted: Updated:HARTFORD -
The governor signed legislation today prohibiting criminal defendants from using gay and transgender panic as a defense strategy.
“Claiming that meeting or interacting with someone who is gay or transgender elicited some type of temporary insanity that is supposed to justify a violent crime is ludicrous, and quite frankly it is absurd that this tactic has ever been successfully utilized in the court system,”Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement. “The strategy also implies that the life of a gay or transgender person is valued less than others. We will not allow homophobia and transphobia to be legitimate reasons that justify violent crime.”
The legislation had been passed unanimously by both the state Senate and House of Representatives. The law goes into effect Oct. 1.
Connecticut is the fifth state to ban the legal tactic.
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