Update: This bill has been passed by the General Assembly.
The LGBTQ+ Panic Defense Bill has been introduced in the Delaware State Legislature by Eric Morrison.
The LGBTQ+ Panic Defense is a legal strategy often used to defend perpetrators of violence against LGBTQ+ people, claiming that their violent reaction against an LGBTQ+ person was caused in part by the shock of discovering their LGBTQ+ status.
The defense was used by the murderers of Matthew Shepard. Before the strategy was banned in Washington DC, it was used to defend the murderers of Tony Hunter Bella Evangelista, and many others.
The LGBTQ+ Panic Defense Bill would ban the use of this legal strategy in Delaware. Seventeen states have already passed similar legislation. The Legislation is supported by Equality Delaware as well as The Delaware Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights & Public Trust. The American Bar Association has unanimously passed a resolution urging the federal government and state governments to ban this defense.
Click below to see the bill
House Bill 142