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"LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) The alleged ringleader in the beating death of college student Matthew Shepard has adopted a "gay panic" defense, a somewhat risky strategy that has had little success in recent years."

(big snip)

"'Homosexual panic' is built on the theory that a person with latent homosexual tendencies will have an uncontrollable, violent reaction when propositioned by a homosexual."

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huh? this is an -actual- defense stategy?? what the fuck is WRONG with this picture? and.. is there a heterosexual panic?

"well, sir, i was in the bar and this man asked me if i wanted to tag along to his hotel room, and well, see, i've always been a good lesbian, but somewhere inside me there's been this voice that maybe i'm really heterosexual, and i don't know, but having this guy approach me in the bar just totally freaked me out. i'd had a little to drink too, you see. of course i had to lure him to a remote area, lash him to a fence, pistol-whip him into a coma, steal $20 and leave him out for 18 hours in near-freezing temperature. he hit on me! what else could i do?"

(note: i'm not trying to trivialize legalese. i'm just a bit.. upset? amazed? i don't know.)

i realise that we all react differently to things. i realise that we all have had different experiences in our lives. i just don't get it, though. i rarely welcome sexual advances of any kind, from anybody in real life. i've had crappy experiences in my childhood. could i use a similar defense if i suddenly snapped and killed somebody who hit on me in a bar, gay or heterosexual??

what if i made a pass at somebody and they snapped and killed me - could they use this defense as i fall into the gay-categroy (bi)? how is anybody to know if the next person i talk to happens to have a latent sexual 'confusion' that would justify them snapping and hurting/killing me? i guess i just don't get it.

you might be interested in matthew shepard online resources. i've had it bookmarked for a while now.

[snap]