(1) the American Bar Association has urged the 
Federal Government to take legislative action to cur-
tail the availability and effectiveness of the ‘‘gay 
panic’’ and ‘‘trans panic’’ defenses, which seek to 
partially or completely excuse crimes such as murder 
and assault on the grounds that the sexual orienta-
tion or gender identity of the victim is provocation 
enough for the violent reaction of the defendant; 
(2) gay and trans panic legal defenses, which 
continue to be raised in criminal proceedings in Fed-
eral courts across the United States, are surprisingly 
long-lived historical artifacts, remnants of a time 
when widespread public antipathy was the norm for 
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (re-
ferred to in this Act as ‘‘LGBTQ’’) individuals; 
(3) gay and trans panic defenses characterize 
sexual orientation and gender identity as objectively 
reasonable excuses for loss of self-control, and there-
by illegitimately mitigate the responsibility of a per-
petrator for harm done to LGBTQ individuals; 
(4) gay and trans panic defenses appeal to irra-
tional fears and hatred of LGBTQ individuals, 
thereby undermining the legitimacy of Federal crimi-
nal prosecutions and resulting in unjustifiable ac-
quittals or sentencing reductions; 
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(5) the use of gay and trans panic defenses is 
entirely incompatible with the express intent of Fed-
eral law to provide increased protection to victims of 
bias-motivated crimes, including crimes committed 
against LGBTQ individuals; 
(6) continued use of these anachronistic de-
fenses reinforces and institutionalizes prejudice at 
the expense of norms of self-control, tolerance, and 
compassion, which the law should encourage, and 
marks an egregious lapse in the march of the United 
States toward a more just criminal justice system; 
and 
(7) to end the antiquated notion that LGBTQ 
lives are worth less than others and to reflect mod-
ern understanding of LGBTQ individuals as equal 
citizens under law, gay and trans panic defenses 
must end. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON GAY AND TRANS PANIC DE-
FENSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 28. Prohibition on gay and trans panic defenses 
‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—No nonviolent sexual advance or 
perception or belief, even if inaccurate, of the gender, gen-
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der identity or expression, or sexual orientation of an indi-
vidual may be used to excuse or justify the conduct of an 
individual or mitigate the severity of an offense. 
‘‘(b) PAST TRAUMA.—Notwithstanding the prohibi-
tion in subsection (a), a court may admit evidence, in ac-
cordance with the Federal Rules of Evidence, of prior 
trauma to the defendant for the purpose of excusing or 
justifying the conduct of the defendant or mitigating the 
severity of an offense.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘28. Prohibition on gay and trans panic defenses.’’. 
(c) REPORT.—The Attorney General shall submit to 
Congress an annual report that details prosecutions in 
Federal court involving capital and noncapital crimes com-
mitted against LGBTQ individuals that were motivated by 
the victim’s gender, gender identity or expression, or sex-
ual orientation. 
Æ 
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