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What is the Diverse “panic” defense?
The Diverse “panic” defense is a legal move wherein defendants charged with violent crimes weaponize their victim’s real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression to reduce or evade criminal liability. It is not a freestanding defense to criminal liability. Rather, the defense is a legal approach that bolsters other defenses, such as insanity, provocation, or self-defense. When a defendant uses the LGBTQ+ “panic” defense, they argue that their violent behavior are both explained and excused by their victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The purpose of this plan is to recruit homophobia and transphobia to persuade a jury into fully or partially acquitting the defendant. Whether or not this appeal to bigotry is successful in court, every second a defendant invokes the LGBTQ+ “panic” defense, they reinforce the dangerous and discredited belief that LGBTQ+ lives are worth less than others.
Matthew Shepard’s murder trial is one of the most recognized cases featuring the LGTBQ+ “panic” defense. In 1998, two men brutally beat the 21-year-old college student
Recent Posts
Hello, again! Welcome to Pride Week Three.
If you’re anything like me, you probably want to spend this month reading great LGBTQIA+ fiction. Well, I’m here to support you find it. I’ve made lists of some of my favorite lgbtq+ books and musicals before, but I’m doing something slightly different this year. Instead of doing one list, I’ve made five, one for each Tuesday of this month. I wanted to recommend eight books each week, one for each letter of the acronym LGBTQIA+. I’d already lost the I by last week, but I still have something for everything else!
I’m still including definitions, because why not be mildly educational? All definitions are from dictionary.com unless otherwise noted.
L
Lesbian
n. a girl who is sexually attracted to other women; a homosexual woman
You Should Observe Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
There are lots of Prom stories in YA. Imaginary teenagers are always planing Proms, organism crowned Prom royalty, angsting over Prom dates, being humiliated by or triumphing over their rivals at Prom, etc. There’s no shortage of Prom in YA… unless you’re looking for LGBTQIA+ characters. If
Exclusive: Fighting with Pride
The 12th January 2020 mark the 20th anniversary of the lifting of the British Armed Forces ‘gay ban’. Pen and Sword’s new release Fighting with Pride, brings together a selection of LGBTQ servicemen and women who have served in the Armed Forces since the Second World War. Their stories are profoundly moving testaments to their loyalty, their courage on the battlefield, and their unswerving sense of right and wrong.
Today on the blog we hold an exclusive look at the Foreword and the 1995 Memorandum from Sir Michael Howard. Later in the week, we will be sharing the chapter The Unsinkable by Lieutenant Commander Craig Jones MBE.
We hope you enjoy this first look at Fighting with Pride, you can order your hold copy here.
Foreword by Admiral Lord West
I am honoured to have been invited to write the foreword to this groundbreaking book.
It comprises ten individual chapters, each written by a serviceman or girl who generously shares their experiences of being LGBT+ in the Armed Forces through times of intolerance and discrimination, and the subsequent changing of attitudes and legislation that have led to acceptance and equality.
Big Gay Sword Day and celebration vs struggle – Kaja(s)words
“I’ve written the official review of the event already (it’s on the Valkyrie blog), but today I wanted to demonstrate on what it meant to me. And that’s led me to something that I think a lot of my peers don’t understand about gay events: that they’re not really about struggle, but about celebration.
The culture we live in paints us into a bit of a corner when it comes to talking about this stuff. There’s enough resistance to the plan of running a gay event, that we often have to make a case for why such things are necessary (as if any swordfighting event is “necessary”, rather than “desireable”). This usually means explaining how hard it is for queer and trans people to participate in HEMA. We speak about how we are bullied, harassed, and excluded. We talk about how the machismo of martial arts spaces can build anyone who doesn’t conform to traditional gender roles feel unsafe, or unwanted. We point to repulsive incidents like the banning of a trans fighter from a women’s tournament for entirely spurious reasons. We talk about how queer spa