On a talk show taping in 1995, Scott Amedure, a gay man and Michigan resident, confessed his secret crush on his acquaintance Jonathan Schmitz, who is straight. Three days later, Schmitz withdrew money from the bank, purchased a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, and killed Amedure. The episode never aired.
Taped on March 6 for “The Jenny Jones Show” in an episode titled, “Same Sex Crush Secrets,” the TV show orchestrated a prank on Schmitz, leading him to believe his secret admirer was a woman. When Amedure confessed the secret admirer was him, Schmitz, seemingly embarrassed as the audience was in uproar, turned to Amedure and said, “You lied to me.”
The case became nationally known as “The Jenny Jones Murder,” wherein Schmitz was sentenced with second-degree murder, reflecting his panicked state at the time of the crime. “He was in a panic that he was being falsely accused or identified as a gay person,” Jim Burdick, Schmitz’s attorney, told Michigan Public in 2017 on the week Schmitz was released from prison.
A study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law from 2021 found that the “gay panic defense” law has been used in court cases in approximately one-half of states across the U.S. The study also revealed that the defense law has been used since its first appearance in the 1960s. While the defense has not always been successful, its very use highlights the societal biases and legal loopholes that can undermine justice for LGBTQ victims.
The “gay panic defense” has been utilized as a legal strategy to justify violence against LGBTQ people—often murders—by claiming that the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity provoked and therefore explains the defendant’s brutal reaction. The use of this defense has a history of reducing sentences for perpetrators due to the framing on how their actions were a result of temporary loss of control in reaction to discovering the victim’s non-heteronormative identity.
There were 266 hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation bias, according to the FBI’s Hate Crime Statistics in 2020, in which 27 were murders or nonnegligent manslaughter. The following year, The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) reported that at least 59 transgender or gender non-conforming people were killed in the U.S., marking it the deadliest year since the organization began tracking these crimes in 2013.
Two weeks ago—nearly three decades after Amedure’s murder—Michigan officially banned the “gay panic defense” law under Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. This law previously allowed defendants to claim they were driven to violence due to fear of LGBTQ individuals, thereby undermining LGBTQ rights.
The Amedure-Schmitz episode finally aired in 1999 when Court TV covered the trial, which clips also featured in a 1997 HBO documentary, “Talked to Death.” Amedure’s murder is a bleak window into the unjust legal landscape that is the “gay panic defense.”
While Gov. Whitmer’s signage of the ban marks a major win for LGBTQ residents of Michigan, what took so long?
On July 23, Whitmer signed the “gay defense” ban into law, now outlawing this defense statewide. Introduced by Democratic Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, an out bisexual cisgender woman, House Bill 4718 expands the ban to include gender identity, barring the use of a transgender panic defense in addition to sexuality.
“Now that this legislation is law, members of our queer communities are even safer, and their freedoms even more secure,” Pohutsky said in a statement on July 25, two days after HB 4718 was passed into law. “While other states across the country are, unfortunately, passing policies that restrict the rights and protections of marginalized populations, here in Michigan, we are expanding them, because we know everyone deserves to be safe and to know they are welcome.”
Leading up to this bill, Michigan had already recently been under a microscope, with many speculating Gov. Whitmer to be the running-mate for current Vice President and now-presidential candidate Kamala Harris prior to the recent announcement of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s selection. Gov. Whitmer, who has taken seat as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019, had said she wouldn’t leave her gubernatorial post during online theories of her run for vice president.
Michigan, which flipped blue voting for President Biden in 2020, has become a key presidential battleground. On July 22, the day before signing HB 4718, Whitmer endorsed Harris.
It’s unclear what leadership Michigan can take on for LGBTQ justice nationwide amid an all-time high record of anti-LGBTQ bills targeting trans youth. However, Michigan’s increased visibility could serve as an example for other states hostile to queer, trans, and nonbinary justice.
With 638 bills introduced attempting to bar LGBTQ rights, what can the banning of LGBTQ panic defense laws signify for the rest of the country?
Michigan is now the 20th state to outlaw this type of defense, according to LGBTQ think tank Movement Advancement Project. Last year, a federal bill was introduced by Sen. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire in 2021 and reintroduced in 2023, but has yet to pass.
In U.S. history, the highest-profile example of the panic defense was the attempt to use it in the murder trial of Aaron McKinney, one of the perpetrators of 21-year-old gay student Matthew Shepard’s death in Wyoming in 1998. The defense was unsuccessful, and both men were sentenced to life in prison. Shepard’s murder is the reason Pohutsky introduced HB 4718.
A few years later in Kentucky, Joshua Cottrell lured 36-year-old gay man Guin “Richie” Phillips into an Elizabethtown hotel room and was brutally murdered. Phillips’ was found days later inside of a suitcase, dumped into Rough River Lake, a reservoir in Kentucky.
Cottrell’s lawyers invoked the “gay panic” defense, leading the jury to charge him with second-degree manslaughter instead of murder. He was sentenced to 20 years, though became eligible for parole two-and-a-half years after his conviction.
Kentucky, which introduced 14 anti-LGBTQ bills this year compared to Michigan’s nine, presents a more challenging environment for LGBTQ rights. Chris Hartman, executive director of Kentucky’s LGBTQ advocacy organization Fairness Campaign, expressed doubt that Kentucky would follow Michigan’s lead anytime soon.
Hartman’s priority lies in discrimination protections for LGBTQ Kentuckians, especially as religious extremist groups continue to challenge their efforts. Despite the challenges, Hartman remains optimistic.
“We’ve been through worse; we’ll get through this moment,” Hartman said, harkening to the current climate on anti-LGBTQ rhetoric nationwide. “The only reason it’s happening is because we are winning, because we are too loud and too proud and won’t be going back into any closets, and so this last bit of resistance is expected.”
Ultimately, his optimism doesn’t come with a lack of proof of his efforts. In the absence of a statewide fairness law, advocates in Kentucky have established fairness ordinances throughout the commonwealth of Kentucky over the past 25 years. Looking ahead, from conversion therapy bans to hate crime laws, which still fails to protect trans and gender-nonconforming Kentuckians, he aims to see ongoing progress in the state—including a panic defense law ban.
Now, 20 states and Washington D.C. have variations of legislation prohibiting an LGBTQ panic defense. These states are: California, Illinois, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, New York, D.C., Colorado, New Jersey, Washington, Maryland, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Delaware, Minnesota and Michigan, according to the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association.
Legislation is pending in Pennsylvania, while similar bans introduced in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Montana, Wisconsin, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina and Texas have failed.
Given its reputation as a swing state, Michigan’s recent banning of the “gay panic” can signify an uphill momentum for the community at large. HB 4718 passed the House of Representatives in a 56 to 54 vote, and the Senate by a greater margin of 24 to 14—with two Republicans joining Democrats.
When Whitmer signed the bill into law, she said, “No one should fear violence because of their sexuality or gender identity.”
In an exclusive interview with The Advocate, she shared that since taking office, she has expanded the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to cover the queer, trans and nonbinary residents, established the Michigan LGBTQ+ Advisory Council as well as banning conversion therapy for minors.
“Our work is not done as we continue to make progress and move Michigan forward,” she told The Advocate on July 24. “I look forward to reviewing the legislation and continuing to work alongside the LGBTQ+ community to ensure justice.”
