MI legislature votes to ban 'LGBTQ panic defense,' sends to Gov. Whitmer

If signed, HB 4718 would outlaw defendants in court from using the discovery of a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity to rationalize alleged violence.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — In Lansing, Michigan lawmakers last week passed a potential ban on the use of what is often referred to as the “LGBTQ panic defense.”

Per House Bill 4718, the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of a victim’s “real or perceived sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation” will no longer be admissible in state court in a defendant’s effort to claim and prove reasonable provocation or reduced mental capacity.

As part of such a defense, a defendant could attempt to paint the alleged violence as more reasonable to the court.

But back in March, the bill’s author told 13 ON YOUR SIDE about what she’d heard from members of the community about how important they feel it is to ban its potential use.

“There have also just been individuals that have reached out talking about why this is important about how, you know, they fear that if something happens to them, the person that attacks them, or even worse, will be able to use this defense,” the bill’s author, Michigan Speaker Pro Tempore Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia), said. “And then they will have to basically argue for their own humanity in front of either a judge or a jury.”

The bill has now passed through both legislative chambers.

The vote to approve the final version of the bill fell along party lines in the House, with the Democratic majority in favor. The bill did manage to garner some Republican votes in the Senate.

Senator Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) offered an amendment, believing the bill’s language could be interpreted too strictly to include situations where an attacker is cornered or felt pressured.

That amendment, aimed at only allowing this new language to apply instances where such a discovery, knowledge or disclosure was the “sole or exclusive basis for the use of force,” did not pass the Senate.

The bill now heads to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s desk for a signature.