Gay Panic Defenses Still Matter

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Even when a judge explicitly rejects the defense team's effort to employ gay panic strategies, defendants are still able to take the stand and talk about how they felt. Gay panic can still end up being part of a trial in subtle and less subtle ways. One argument against banning the gay panic defense is that even with a ban in place, the defendant has the right to testify. And if the jury is inclined to sympathize with the defendant, they are likely to find in his favor,. or they can find in his favour, even if a ban is in place.

In 1995, two men filmed an episode of the daytime talk show, The Jenny Jones Show. A few days later, one of the men was dead. The shooter later claimed he’d committed the murder “in a panic that he was being falsely accused or identified as a gay person.”

We speak with Cynthia Lee, Carsten Andresen, and Paul Howard about so-called “gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses, and we discuss the murders of Scott Amedure, Islan Nettles, Larry King, Ahmed Dabarran, and Matthew Shepard.

Thanks to Thomas Curry, who helped co-produce this episode.

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