Page:Gay and Transgender Panic Legal Defenses Prohibition Act - Proposed Amendment by By Senator Book.pdf/1

By Senator Book

A bill to be entitled

An act relating to gay and transgender panic legal defenses; creating s. 900.06, F.S.; providing a short title; providing legislative findings; defining terms; prohibiting individuals from using a nonviolent sexual advance or specified perceptions or beliefs about another individual as a defense to a criminal offense, to excuse or justify the conduct of an individual who commits a criminal offense, or to mitigate the severity of a criminal offense; providing an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

Section 1. Section 900.06, Florida Statutes, is created to read:

900.06 Use of gay and transgender panic legal defenses prohibited.—

(1) SHORT TITLE.—This act may be cited as the “Gay and Transgender Panic Legal Defenses Prohibition Act.”

(2) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.—The Legislature finds that gay and transgender panic legal defenses raised in criminal proceedings characterize sexual orientation and gender expression or gender identity as objectively reasonable excuses for a perpetrator’s loss of self-control, and that these defenses thereby illegitimately attempt to mitigate the responsibility of the perpetrator for harm done to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals.

(3) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:

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