If you're gonna gang up on a girl in the bathroom, make sure you film it.

[Tamas]

You can count on Marty to march in to a thread about a girl being gangbanged and steer it so he can ramble about homophobia.

[garbon]

Exactly. The website you checked probably lists only the cases where "gay panic" was used in its most blatant manner ("I freaked out because I found out the guy was gay").

It is unlikely it lists all the cases where there was an acquittal or a significant reduction of sentence because the perp successfully claimed that he was either propositioned by a gay or a transsexual person, had sex with a transsexual person thinking he is a woman, or the victim allegedly attempted to take sexual advantage of the perp in some way.

Is wiki now considered a secret website?

[Drakken]

Anyway, I was going to post how it sucks to be a horny straight man, but then thought that you guys have it easy. At least chicks do not murder you and then get acquitted on gay panic grounds. 

I take it you're not familiar with the "battered wife" defence then.

At least, criteria to allow a defence based on battered wife syndrome are much more stringent than for gay panic. Only a minority of spouses who murder their abusive husbands get to benefit from this defence, anyway.

As for gay panic, it is only a heteronormative, gay-bashing version of the Twinkie defence, as the victim is obviously almost never an imminent threat to the perpetrator and thus presents no justification whatsoever for homicide, even in self-defence. On that, for once, I agree with Mart.

How judges could allow the latter as a legally acceptable defence even to be argued is beyond me. By the same logic, can I claim "hooker panic syndrome" if I kill a prostitute because she was sollicitating me for sex on the streets and I panicked?

Fun fact: Twinkie defense actually is the defense that was used to defend the murderer of Harvey Milk - so like in "gay panic" situations, the fact that the victim was gay probably played into the "Twinkie defense" being "successful."

Hence my reference to Dan White and Castro Street gay community to my reply to Garbon.

But the twinkie defence as we know it is a fallacy. It was merely used in passing at the trial to describe White's state of mind at the time of the crime. He was in a depressed, stressed-out state due to his constant dejection due to refused to have back his job on the City Board coupled with the need to find a job to feed his family. All of this fueled by bad habits like lack of sleep and eating a sugar-filled diet, including Twinkies. Nowhere did the counsel argue that him eating Twinkies made him unbalanced enough to kill Moscone and Milk on its own.

Plus, I have trouble to describe Milk's murder as a strictly homophobic crime. While it might have subconsciously played a part in fueling White's frustration towards Milk, and White surely had some prejudices against gay people in general, Dan White was not your typical gay-hating WASP. In fact, he worked closely with Milk over several issues while they were city councillors and, despite White's intransigent, politically naive nature they seemed to get along fine personally even if White certainly didn't agree with Milk's lifestyle. Dan White did not kill Milk because he was gay, but because he was angry at what he saw as backstabbing from someone he thought he had support from, when in fact it was Milk who advised Moscone not to give White his job back as a board member.

What really made the difference was that the prosecution was mediocre and half-hearted, and that his counsel succeeded in depicting White as a "normal" Joe Schmoe to a jury of his peers : white, Catholic low-to-middle class people who had prejudices against both politicians and gays. He even succeeded in having the jury buy that, as an ex-cop it was perfectly normal for someone like him to sneak a gun into the City Hall for protection.

[Valmy]

Fun fact: Twinkie defense actually is the defense that was used to defend the murderer of Harvey Milk - so like in "gay panic" situations, the fact that the victim was gay probably played into the "Twinkie defense" being "successful."

Fun fact: White also killed the mayor of San Francisco who was not gay.

[Caliga]

Fun fact: White also killed the mayor of San Francisco who was not gay.

Therefore, he is not important.

[Drakken]

Fun fact: Twinkie defense actually is the defense that was used to defend the murderer of Harvey Milk - so like in "gay panic" situations, the fact that the victim was gay probably played into the "Twinkie defense" being "successful."

Fun fact: White also killed the mayor of San Francisco who was not gay.

In fact, if Milk hadn't been gay chances are White would have killed him anyway. He was just too instrumental in him losing his job.

[Barrister]

The authorities for releasing their names (assuming that's how they went public). I don't think the papers have done anything illegal (unless there is a law in Canada - this is in Canada, right? can't be arsed to go back and check - that prohibits releasing names of suspects, which is the case in some Western countries).

[Professor Beeb]It is against the Youth Criminal Justice Act to publish the name of any youth charged with a crime.  Other than that there are provisisions in the Criminal Code , in particular s. 486.4 and s. 486.5 which, upon application, the judge may prohibit the publication of anything that might identify the victim of a sexual offence, or of an other victim or witness.  In certain circumstances (namely familial crime) that may include a ban on publishing the name of the accused.

Otherwise though, we have a system of an open court, and a free press.  The media is free to report when people are charged with crimes.

Where the system can occasionally break down however is where the police, occasionally, are a little too quick to arrest, when they should instead continue their investigation.
[/Professor Beeb]

[Grey Fox]

And Judges uses those provisions way too often.

Guy Laliberté! Damn it.

[alfred russel]

The authorities for releasing their names (assuming that's how they went public). I don't think the papers have done anything illegal (unless there is a law in Canada - this is in Canada, right? can't be arsed to go back and check - that prohibits releasing names of suspects, which is the case in some Western countries).

[Professor Beeb]It is against the Youth Criminal Justice Act to publish the name of any youth charged with a crime.  Other than that there are provisisions in the Criminal Code , in particular s. 486.4 and s. 486.5 which, upon application, the judge may prohibit the publication of anything that might identify the victim of a sexual offence, or of an other victim or witness.  In certain circumstances (namely familial crime) that may include a ban on publishing the name of the accused.

Otherwise though, we have a system of an open court, and a free press.  The media is free to report when people are charged with crimes.

Where the system can occasionally break down however is where the police, occasionally, are a little too quick to arrest, when they should instead continue their investigation.
[/Professor Beeb]

I guess there is a different concept of the free press in Europe.

[Ed Anger]

Fun fact: Twinkie defense actually is the defense that was used to defend the murderer of Harvey Milk - so like in "gay panic" situations, the fact that the victim was gay probably played into the "Twinkie defense" being "successful."

Dan White is my hero.

[Drakken]

And Judges uses those provisions way too often.

Guy Laliberté! Damn it.

Ssh, don't get Languish in trouble. It's supposed to remain secret. 

[Razgovory]

I guess there is a different concept of the free press in Europe.

Especially in that European country of Canada.

[Martinus]

Fun fact: White also killed the mayor of San Francisco who was not gay.

Therefore, he is not important.

I'm glad at least one person here at least makes an attempt to understand and emphasize with the sensibilities of the GLBT community. 

[Ed Anger]

I'm glad at least one person here at least makes an attempt to understand and emphasize with the sensibilities of the GLBT community. 

You turned me against the homo.