The gay/trans panic defense is a legal strategy used by defense attorneys to explain and often excuse, usually violent, hate crimes towards a member of the LGBTQ+. There are three variations of this tactic: diminished capacity/ insanity, provocation, and self-defense. The diminished capacity tactic argues that the victim's sexual/gender identity is to blame for the crime. That the defendant was so shocked by the victim's identity that they had reduced mental capacity. The provocation defense argues that the victim made a “non-aggressive sexual advance” that provoked the defendant to the point of violence. And finally, The last variation of this defense is self-defense. This means that the defendant felt that, because of the sexual/gender identity of the victim, they were in immediate physical danger. This defense has been implemented successfully in the United States hundreds of times in the last two decades and is continued to be used in Thirty-Nine states today. As of 2017 Texas is fighting to ban this defense, however, it is still legal. This is discrimination and it won't stand. We have to stop this hate, Today in Texas, And Tomorrow the U.S. Please sign my petition to stop this awful defense, that still lets homophobia back onto the streets.