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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 58
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 6389
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT CONCERNING GA Y AND TRANSGENDER PANIC DE FENSE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 53a-13 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019): 2
(a) In any prosecution for an offense, it shall be an affirmative 3
defense that the defendant, at the time [he] the defendant committed 4
the proscribed act or acts, lacked substantial capacity, as a result of 5
mental disease or defect, either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his 6
conduct or to control his conduct within the requirements of the law. 7
(b) (1) It shall not be a defense under this section if such mental 8
disease or defect was proximately caused by the voluntary ingestion, 9
inhalation or injection of intoxicating liquor or any drug or substance, 10
or any combination thereof, unless such drug was prescribed for the 11
defendant by a prescribing practitioner, as defined in subdivision (22) 12
of section 20-571, and was used in accordance with the directions of 13
such prescription. 14
(2) No defendant may claim as a defense under this section that 15
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such mental disease or defect was based solely on the discovery of, 16
knowledge about or potential disclosure of the victim's actual or 17
perceived sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, 18
including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted 19
nonforcible romantic or sexual advance toward the defendant, or if the 20
defendant and victim dated or had a romantic relationship. 21
(c) As used in this section, (1) the terms mental disease or defect do 22
not include [(1)] (A) an abnormality manifested only by repeated 23
criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct, or [(2)] (B) pathological or 24
compulsive gambling, and (2) "gender identity or expression" means 25
gender identity or expression, as defined in section 53a-181i. 26
Sec. 2. Section 53a-16 of the general statutes is repealed and the 27
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019): 28
(a) In any prosecution for an offense, justification, as defined in 29
sections 53a-17 to 53a-23, inclusive, shall be a defense. 30
(b) In any prosecution for an offense, justification as a defense shall 31
not include provocation that resulted solely from the discovery of, 32
knowledge about or potential disclosure of the victim's actual or 33
perceived sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, 34
including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted 35
nonforcible romantic or sexual advance toward the defendant, or if the 36
defendant and victim dated or had a romantic relationship. As used in 37
this subsection, "gender identity or expression" means gender identity 38
or expression, as defined in section 53a-181i. 39
Sec. 3. Section 53a-18 of the general statutes is repealed and the 40
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019): 41
(a) The use of physical force upon another person which would 42
otherwise constitute an offense is justifiable and not criminal under 43
any of the following circumstances: 44
(1) A parent, guardian or other person entrusted with the care and 45
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supervision of a minor or an incompetent person, except a person 46
entrusted with the care and supervision of a minor for school purposes 47
as described in subdivision (6) of this section, may use reasonable 48
physical force upon such minor or incompetent person when and to 49
the extent that he or she reasonably believes such to be necessary to 50
maintain discipline or to promote the welfare of such minor or 51
incompetent person. 52
(2) An authorized official of a correctional institution or facility may, 53
in order to maintain order and discipline, use such physical force as is 54
reasonable and authorized by the rules and regulations of the 55
Department of Correction. 56
(3) A person responsible for the maintenance of order in a common 57
carrier of passengers, or a person acting under his or her direction, 58
may use reasonable physical force when and to the extent that he or 59
she reasonably believes such to be necessary to maintain order, but he 60
or she may use deadly physical force only when he or she reasonably 61
believes such to be necessary to prevent death or serious physical 62
injury. 63
(4) A person acting under a reasonable belief that another person is 64
about to commit suicide or to inflict serious physical injury upon 65
himself or herself may use reasonable physical force upon such person 66
to the extent that he or she reasonably believes such to be necessary to 67
thwart such result. 68
(5) A duly licensed physician or psychologist, or a person acting 69
under his or her direction, may use reasonable physical force for the 70
purpose of administering a recognized form of treatment which he or 71
she reasonably believes to be adapted to promoting the physical or 72
mental health of the patient, provided the treatment (A) is 73
administered with the consent of the patient or, if the patient is a 74
minor or an incompetent person, with the consent of his or her parent, 75
guardian or other person entrusted with his or her care and 76
supervision, or (B) is administered in an emergency when the 77
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physician or psychologist reasonably believes that no one competent to 78
consent can be consulted and that a reasonable person, wishing to 79
safeguard the welfare of the patient, would consent. 80
(6) A teacher or other person entrusted with the care and 81
supervision of a minor for school purposes may use reasonable 82
physical force upon such minor when and to the extent [he] such 83
teacher or other person reasonably believes such force to be necessary 84
to (A) protect himself or herself or others from immediate physical 85
injury, (B) obtain possession of a dangerous instrument or controlled 86
substance, as defined in subdivision (9) of section 21a-240, upon or 87
within the control of such minor, (C) protect property from physical 88
damage or (D) restrain such minor or remove such minor to another 89
area, to maintain order. 90
(b) No person is justified in using force upon another person which 91
would otherwise constitute an offense based solely on the discovery of, 92
knowledge about or potential disclosure of the victim's actual or 93
perceived sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, 94
including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted 95
nonforcible romantic or sexual advance toward the defendant, or if the 96
defendant and victim dated or had a romantic relationship. 97
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 53a-13
Sec. 2 October 1, 2019 53a-16
Sec. 3 October 1, 2019 53a-18
Statement of Purpose:
To prohibit the use of gay and transgender panic as a criminal defense.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: SEN. LOONEY, 11th Dist.; REP. MICHEL, 146th Dist.
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REP. CURREY, 11th Dist.; REP. ALLIE-BRENNAN, 2nd Dist.
S.B. 58