Illinois will become the second after California American state which refuses to «homosexual panic.» Next Monday the courts of the state of this mental condition will not be considered as a mitigating circumstance at sentencing, the court charged with a crime of homophobia.
In judicial practice «gay panic» is considered as a passion that heterosexual men in the manifestation of interest is Homo/bisexual. Usually, the defendant points out that the romantic interest of a man of his same sex triggered his uncontrolled aggression. With the result that the crime was committed.
Bar Association in 2013 urged to abandon «homosexual panic.» Court practice knows many examples when the state defendant had received a much lower sentence or even released from criminal liability.
According to the Williams Institute in Los Angeles, «gay panic» is used in the courts in about half the States in the United States. And this despite the fact that none of the state penal code it is not considered self-defense. Opponents of the repeal pointed out that «homosexual panic» is hardly considered in the courts as a reliable means of justification of the criminal.
The law was approved by the General Assembly of Illinois in may 2017, and in August he was signed by Governor Bruce Reuniram. The head of the LGBT community in the state Brian C. Jones thanked the Governor and legislators, and also noted that: «the law improves the social and political structure for all Americans in the state. It could only happen with the cooperation of Democrats and Republicans of Illinois. Working together, we can achieve much».
The LGBT community intends to fight for a ban on «gay panic» in Washington and new Jersey, where the proposal has not yet received the approval of the Committee. Advocates also hope to achieve success in new York, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and Texas.
The impetus for the protection of the rights of gays and lesbians was the murder of the student of University of Wyoming Matthew Shepard in 1998. Then Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, learning about homosexuality, Matthew, was brutally beaten and left for dead in the woods. The details of the murder shocked the public. The two perpetrators received life sentences without parole.
