Weaponized gayness
Programs
What is the LGBTQ+ “panic” defense?
The LGBTQ+ “panic” defense is a legal tactic wherein defendants charged with violent crimes weaponize their victim’s real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression to reduce or evade criminal liability. It is not a freestanding defense to criminal liability. Rather, the defense is a legal tactic that bolsters other defenses, such as insanity, provocation, or self-defense. When a defendant uses the LGBTQ+ “panic” defense, they argue that their violent actions are both explained and excused by their victim’s concrete or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The goal of this move is to employ homophobia and transphobia to persuade a jury into fully or partially acquitting the defendant. Whether or not this appeal to bigotry is successful in court, every time a defendant invokes the LGBTQ+ “panic” defense, they reinforce the dangerous and discredited faith that LGBTQ+ lives are worth less than others.
Matthew Shepard’s murder trial is one of the most recognized cases featuring the LGTBQ+ “panic” defense. In 1998, two men brutally beat the 21-year-old college student
Earlier this week, BuzzFeed News published an account of Kevin Spacey making a sexual advance on then-14-year-old Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp. Spacey, who had been contacted but declined to comment before the article was published, reacted to it by tweeting out a combined apology and coming-out remark that seemingly attempted to reframe the story.
Spacey described himself as being “beyond horrified to catch [Rapp's] story," adding, “I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” But after the apology, he also finally moved out of the glass closet that he’s been ambiguously living in for years. “I have loved and had quixotic encounters with men throughout my animation, and I pick now to stay as a queer man,” the declaration reads. “I wish to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior.”
With his statement, Spacey attempted to design a sort of "rainbow shield" — strategically wielding his sexuality as a way of reasserting control over a potentially damaging story of alleged sexual misconduct. And, up to a show, it worked. “Kevin Spacey Declares He Lives Life as a Gay Man,” Reuters
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
This analysis summarizes and reflects on the following research: Romanets, M. (2017). Virtual warfare: Masculinity, sexuality, and propaganda in the Russo-Ukrainian war. East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies, 4(1), 159-177.
Talking Points
- Russia’s glorification of dominant masculinity in relation to subordinated femininity is reinforced through propaganda—specifically, the portrayal of Ukraine’s political leaders as lgbtq+ or feminine, which is to express inferior based on the values and beliefs of current Russian society.
- When supplemented with the pledge of reseating Russia as a superb world power, propaganda infused with state-sanctioned homophobia and praise for the traditional “macho” masculine ideology has successfully maintained public support for Russian military deed against Ukraine.
Summary
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first term in the early 2000s, the country has used strategic propaganda that combines political and sexual discourse to undermine Ukrainian involvement with the European Union and to promote a “new brand of Russian imperialism.” For most of the past two decades, this propaganda has follow
In 2008, Regina Kunzel learned of an extraordinary collection of case files that had been salvaged from Saint Elizabeths Hospital, a federal institution for the mentally ill in Washington, D.C. These were records of people who had been in treatment with one of the hospital’s psychiatrists, Benjamin Karpman, for being gay or gender-variant, primarily in the 1940s and ‘50s.
What made the files so valuable to Kunzel as a historian was Karpman’s unusual treatment method: He asked his patients to write. Write their life stories, including details of their sexual encounters. Keep journals. Practice free-associative writing. Together, these thousands of pages of patient accounts offered key insights into how patients who were “treated” for organism gay or transgender experienced psychiatric scrutiny.
The files inspired Kunzel’s new book, “In the Shadow of Diagnosis: Psychiatric Power and Queer Life” (University of Chicago Press), which delves into the use of psychiatry to treat queer and gender-variant people in the mid-20th century.
“At a time when homosexuality was understood to constitute a threat linked ominously to communism and perhaps surpassing it in menace,” Kun
Roundup of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Advancing In States Across the Country
by Cullen Peele •
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As extremist lawmakers in state houses across the country continue advancing a record-breaking number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures, the Human Rights Campaign — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, genderqueer and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — is providing the below snapshot (updated weekly) to illustrate the hostile legislative climate facing LGBTQ+ people, and the scale and scope with which the uninterrupted legislative assault is creature waged.
This weaponization of universal policy has been driven by extremist groups that have a long history in working to oppress the existence and rights of LGBTQ+ people. Several of these organizations possess been deemed hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center, such as the Alliance Defending Liberty and the Family Analyze Council.
Year-to-Date Snapshot: 2023 Anti-LGBTQ+ State Legislative Activity
Over 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills acquire been introduced in declare legislatures, a record;
Over 220 bills specifically target trans person and non-binary people, also a record; and
- A re