LGBTI law reforms in California as US Supreme Court considers gay marriage cases
CALIFORNIA has emulated NSW by becoming the first US state to ban the “panic defence” used by defendants against gay and trans* victims in legal cases.
The Governor of US’ most populous state, Jerry Brown, ratified the legislation last weekend.
The legislation now bans the excuse a person was suddenly “panicked” into committing a crime against motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The news comes after NSW Parliament repealed the “gay panic” defence from the state’s legal statutes in May.
The Californian Governor also signed into law the Respect After Death Act this week, which means the true gender identity of trans* people is now reflected in their death certificates.
The reforms in California comes as the US Supreme Court continues to consider five gay marriage cases that are appeals of circuit court rulings overturning same-sex marriage bans in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin.
At the time of print, the court’s justices — who had preliminary closed-door meetings on the cases — were yet to make an announcement about which one they will pursue for the upcoming term.
A ruling on one of the five cases would have a ripple effect across every US state.
When the Supreme Court last considered gay marriage cases in June 2013, they voted 5-4 to strike down a Defense of Marriage Act clause, which led to the federal government recognising same-sex unions.
The striking down of California’s infamous Proposition 8, a law that banned gay marriage in the state, also occurred on that same day.
You May Also Like
Support the Star Observer… while you still can
LGBTQIA+ media is under threat. Queer content is censored by tech conglomerates who amplify bigotry and push out AI slop — so we receive less financial support than ever.
When our community is muzzled and intolerance intensifies, we need queer media more than ever. Your donation means we can continue paying queer journalists to write queer news.
Don’t rely on the straight lies of big tech – support Star Observer instead and donate now.
Long Overdue!
As usual, here in Australia we are so far behind the times on LGBTI Equality that milo bars and skittles (if you can find them since they are so rare now) are considered way more progressive than all of our completely useless bigoted and small-minded deadlocked lawmakers/politicians!