The chairperson of LGBT advocacy group Rainbow Wellington voiced a blistering attack against New Zealand's controversial 'gay panic' defence today, labeling it "a homophobic hangover which should long have been done away with." The partial defence of provocation, which has led to several killers of gay men to successfully downgrade their murder charges to manslaughter, was under debate today before the Justice and Electoral Select Committee. Rainbow Wellington's Tony Simpson told the committee that provocation was now swiftly under review only since the Clayton Weatherston case involving the murder of his former girlfriend Sophie Elliott - yet calls by the gay community to remove the defence had been ignored for years. "It's very hard to escape the impression, from our point of view, that while it was just a few gays getting whacked nobody was all that concerned. But when a pretty young girl was involved somehow it was different," he remarked, adding that in essence the defence is a form of "victim-blaming." The first draft of the anti-provocation Bill passed through Parliament last month. Most MPs have voiced their support for the Bill as it progresses towards its second reading.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Thursday, 10th September 2009 - 4:15pm