I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2629 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gay and trans panic 

defenses. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 16, 2021 

Mr. PAPPAS (for himself, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. KILMER, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. 

SA ́NCHEZ, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. KUSTER, Ms. NORTON, 

Mr. CRIST, Mr. CARSON, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. TORRES of New York, 

Ms. STRICKLAND, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. BASS, Mr. QUIGLEY, 

and Mr. COSTA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gay 

and trans panic defenses. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gay and Trans Panic 

5 Defense Prohibition Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) the American Bar Association has urged the 

2 Federal Government to take legislative action to cur3 tail the availability and effectiveness of the ‘‘gay 

4 panic’’ and ‘‘trans panic’’ defenses, which seek to 

5 partially or completely excuse crimes such as murder 

6 and assault on the grounds that the sexual orienta7 tion or gender identity of the victim is provocation 

8 enough for the violent reaction of the defendant; 

9 (2) gay and trans panic legal defenses, which 

10 continue to be raised in criminal proceedings in Fed11 eral courts across the United States, are surprisingly 

12 long-lived historical artifacts, remnants of a time 

13 when widespread public antipathy was the norm for 

14 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (re15 ferred to in this Act as ‘‘LGBTQ’’) individuals; 

16 (3) gay and trans panic defenses characterize 

17 sexual orientation and gender identity as objectively 

18 reasonable excuses for loss of self-control, and there19 by illegitimately mitigate the responsibility of a per20 petrator for harm done to LGBTQ individuals; 

21 (4) gay and trans panic defenses appeal to irra22 tional fears and hatred of LGBTQ individuals, 

23 thereby undermining the legitimacy of Federal crimi24 nal prosecutions and resulting in unjustifiable ac25 quittals or sentencing reductions; 


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1 (5) the use of gay and trans panic defenses is 

2 entirely incompatible with the express intent of Fed3 eral law to provide increased protection to victims of 

4 bias-motivated crimes, including crimes committed 

5 against LGBTQ individuals; 

6 (6) continued use of these anachronistic de7 fenses reinforces and institutionalizes prejudice at 

8 the expense of norms of self-control, tolerance, and 

9 compassion, which the law should encourage, and 

10 marks an egregious lapse in the march of the United 

11 States toward a more just criminal justice system; 

12 and 

13 (7) to end the antiquated notion that LGBTQ 

14 lives are worth less than others and to reflect mod15 ern understanding of LGBTQ individuals as equal 

16 citizens under law, gay and trans panic defenses 

17 must end. 

18 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON GAY AND TRANS PANIC DE19 FENSES. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 18, United 

21 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘§ 28. Prohibition on gay and trans panic defenses 

24 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—No nonviolent sexual advance or 

25 perception or belief, even if inaccurate, of the gender, genVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2629.IH H2629

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1 der identity or expression, or sexual orientation of an indi2 vidual may be used to excuse or justify the conduct of an 

3 individual or mitigate the severity of an offense. 

4 ‘‘(b) PAST TRAUMA.—Notwithstanding the prohibi5 tion in subsection (a), a court may admit evidence, in ac6 cordance with the Federal Rules of Evidence, of prior 

7 trauma to the defendant for the purpose of excusing or 

8 justifying the conduct of the defendant or mitigating the 

9 severity of an offense.’’. 

10 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

11 The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 18, United 

12 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

‘‘28. Prohibition on gay and trans panic defenses.’’. 

14 (c) REPORT.—The Attorney General shall submit to 

15 Congress an annual report that details prosecutions in 

16 Federal court involving capital and noncapital crimes com17 mitted against LGBTQ individuals that were motivated by 

18 the victim’s gender, gender identity or expression, or sex19 ual orientation. 

Æ 


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