No cause for panic

[Butterfly]

No cause for panic
The National Law Journal
By D'Arcy Kemnitz
July 6, 2009


http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202431964634&No_cause_for_panic&slreturn=1


This legal strategy, often referred to as "gay panic" or, in the case of Angie Zapata, "trans panic," is still depressingly common in American courtrooms. One part temporary insanity and two parts institutionalized bigotry, its very existence precludes the family members, friends and loved ones of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) murder victims the legal remedies others take for granted.

Society's attitudes on LGBT equality have changed, and it is time for the law to catch up. The legal profession must resolve to kill the gay panic legal strategy once and for all.

All legal professionals should be concerned with the discriminatory nature of a courtroom tactic based on "panic," particularly when the so-called panic is a reaction to another's identity.