I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4432 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit defenses based on sexual 
orientation or gender identity or expression. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 30, 2023 
Mr. PAPPAS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit defenses 
based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘LGBTQ+ Panic De-
fense Prohibition Act of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) the American Bar Association has urged the 
Federal Government to take legislative action to cur-
tail the availability and effectiveness of the legal de-
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fenses that seek to partially or completely excuse 
crimes such as murder and assault on the grounds 
that the sexual orientation or gender identity of the 
victim is provocation enough for the violent reaction 
of the defendant; 
(2) panic defenses based on sexual orientation 
or gender identity or expression, which continue to 
be raised in criminal proceedings in Federal courts 
across the United States, are surprisingly long-lived 
historical artifacts, remnants of a time when wide-
spread public antipathy was the norm for lesbian, 
gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (referred to in 
this Act as ‘‘LGBTQ’’) individuals; 
(3) panic defenses based on sexual orientation 
or gender identity or expression characterize sexual 
orientation and gender identity or expression as ob-
jectively reasonable excuses for loss of self-control, 
and thereby illegitimately mitigate the responsibility 
of a perpetrator for harm done to LGBTQ individ-
uals; 
(4) panic defenses based on sexual orientation 
or gender identity or expression appeal to irrational 
fears and hatred of LGBTQ individuals, thereby un-
dermining the legitimacy of Federal criminal pros-
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SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON PANIC DEFENSES BASED ON SEX-
UAL ORIENTATION OR GENDER IDENTITY OR 
EXPRESSION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 28. Prohibition on panic defenses based on sexual 
orientation or gender identity or expres-
sion 
‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—No nonviolent sexual advance or 
perception or belief, even if inaccurate, of the gender, gen-
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 panic defenses based on sexual orientation or gender iden-
tity or expression.’’. 
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(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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