LANSING, Mich. — In October 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard walked into a gay bar in Wyoming state, where he was approached by two men who later that night tied him to a fence, beat him and left him to die.
Later, as both of his attackers pled and were found guilty of his murder, one attempted to use what was dubbed a "gay panic defense." In court, the defense claimed that Shepard allegedly making an advance by putting his hand on the defendant's knee caused the killer to act violently.
Jason Marsden, the then-executive director of the Matthew Shepard foundation, told ABC News in 2018 that the two killers later admitted to having planned to rob Shepard and pose as gay men to gain Shepard's trust.
What happened to Shepard would ultimately go down as one of the most infamous instances of violence against and murder of a queer person in American history.
Now, 26 years after Shepard's killing, lawmakers in Michigan are hoping to ban the use of LGBTQ panic defenses in the state through House Bill 4718.
"It doesn't really line up with the welcoming message that we've been really successful in promoting," Michigan House Speaker Pro Tempore Laurie Pohutsky said. "But, we clearly have some work to do, and eliminating this defense is an easy step and a common sense step in that direction."
According to the latest tally from the National LGBTQ+ Bar, 18 states and the District of Columbia have banned the defense.
Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin also have active legislation alongside Michigan.
Pohutsky, the author of the bill and herself a member of the LGBTQ community, said she's heard from others how important they feel it is to ban the practice.
"We have the support of a lot of the LGBTQ stakeholders," Pohutsky said. "But, 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. And then, they will have to basically argue for their own humanity in front of either a judge or a jury."
She said opposition that was brought to her about the bill was over the inclusion of transgender individuals in what would be a ban of this defense based on someone's real or perceived gender identity or expression, in addition to gender and sexual orientation.
One local advocate, however, said it's especially important that trans people be included, given increased violence against that portion of the community.
"Our trans community are even more vulnerable," Grand Rapids Pride Center Director Jazz McKinney said. "They're dying at sky-high rates. Like, we are constantly having to hold vigils and put out statements and it's just alarming at how much this is happening and people don't even realize it."
After passing the House late last year, the bill is now set for a Senate hearing later this week.
If passed through committee, it would move on to the full Senate. If the Senate passes it without any amendments to the House version, it would be on its way to Governor Whitmer.
However, if the Senate passes any amendments, it would need to be sent back to the House for another vote on that new version.
As the bill passed the House along party lines - with 56 Democrats voting "yes," 53 Republicans voting "no" and one House Republican not having voted, a new, evenly-divided House with 54 Democrats and 54 Republicans pending special elections for 2 seat in April could delay the process.
"If something like that happens, then we would probably just hold off on concurring it in until after special elections later this year," Pohutsky said. "But that being said, a lot of work went into the bill. We worked with some prosecutors on the specific language, we looked at what other states are doing. So, it's my hope that we can pass it out clean from the Senate."
Past reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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