The Trans Panic Defense is an argument used in court that allows defendants to claim that they were so overwhelmed with the victim being a transgender, that they went into a state of psychosis and killed them (Lee pg. 513) . There are three main arguments to this defense: Defense of Insanity, Provocation, and Self-Defense. Defense of Insanity claims that the victim’s gender identity caused the defendant to have a mental breakdown that resulted in the murder of the victim. Provocation claims that the victim made some form of sexual advancement onto the defendant which, upon discovering that they were transgender, caused the defendant to murder the victim. The final defense, Self-Defense, claims that the victim’s gender identity was threatening to the defendant and they were afraid that the victim would inflict bodily harm onto them, so they murdered them (lgbtqbar.org). Many times, the murder happened after the defendant had engaged in a sexual relationship with the victim. Many times, the men felt deceived or bamboozled in some way and felt that it was a threat upon their masculinity to be caught with someone who has male genitalia. The goal of the Trans Panic Defense is to try to lessen the defendant’s charges, if not dismiss them completely. We identify transgenders as those whose biological sex does not match their personal gender identity. Most of the victims from the Trans Panic Defense were transgender females (those who were born a male but identify as a female).

            The reason that this topic is so important is because, despite the removal of Gay Panic Disorder from the DSM in 1973, the Trans Panic Defense is still used as a legal defense today. In fact, only 11 states have laws in place that protect against the use of Trans Panic Defense in court (lgbtqmap.org). Between the years of 2013 and 2017, 102 transgender people were killed due to hate crimes. There have a lot more than this, but many are not reported or are not recorded as hate crimes. Studies have shown that 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ people will experience a hate crime against them as some point in their life and 1 in 4 transgender people will experience a hate crime (Holden 2019). However, there are very few laws put in place to protect them from those hate crimes. And this issue is not new one. The Trans Panic Defense stemmed from a similar defense, called the Gay Panic Defense, which began in the 1960’s. This defense claimed that a person’s sexual orientation caused the defendant to go into a state of psychosis that resulted in murder. This defense was used in over 200 court cases from 1996-2006. As the years progressed, the defense took on an additional piece, which we now call the Trans Panic Defense.

           The goal of this petition is to encourage new legislation to be passed in Maryland that eliminates the use of the Trans Panic Defense in a court of law. Please sign your name to encourage a change in our legislation and to support the Transgender community.