Delores Nettles, the mother of slain transgender woman Islan Nettles, holds up Nettles' picture in 2013. Photo: Facebook/Islan Nettles Memorial Page

After years of stalling before lawmakers in New York, legislation to end the so-called “gay panic” and “trans panic “ defenses appears poised to pass this week after Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he had struck a deal on the issue with the state Legislature.

Lawmakers, over the weekend, introduced a new version of the bill that would eliminate those defenses, which currently allow those facing murder charges to say their actions were driven by an extreme emotional disturbance incited by a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Cuomo said during a radio interview Monday morning that the new legislation is an agreement between his office and the Legislature, which is expected to approve the bill in the coming days. The Cuomo administration later confirmed the deal as being between the governor's office and both houses of the Legislature.

“I believe we have an agreement ending the 'gay panic' defense, which was codifying homophobia,” Cuomo said.

The legislation is sponsored by state Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan, and Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, D-Manhattan, each of whom are openly gay members of the Legislature. They've pushed the bill for the last several years.

O'Donnell, who is a former public defender, said he has been met with criticism by criminal defense attorneys for sponsoring the legislation, but decided to set aside those concerns to negotiate a final bill.

“Although I'm getting a lot of pushback from the criminal defense community I come out of, the truth is being gay or trans is not a deathworthy offense,” O'Donnell said. “I know the area of law very well. I've studied it, and the truth is someone shouldn't be able to claim they killed someone because they're trans.”

Defender organizations in New York City recently signed on to a memo opposing the measure. They argued the legislation would result in more people spending time in prison and for longer periods of time, rather than benefit members of the LGBTQ community. The Legal Aid Society, Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and others were on the memo.

“Increased dependence on criminalization and incarceration, and on the tools of the state used to lock more people in cages, will not bring an end to discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people,” the groups wrote. “By eliminating this defense, we will be providing the state with yet another tool to incarcerate more people.”

The bill wouldn't eliminate the option completely for defendants to say they were influenced by an extreme emotional disturbance, but it would set limits on that defense.

Defendants facing murder charges would no longer be able to plead them down to manslaughter by saying their actions were driven by the discovery of a victim's sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth, according to the text of the bill.

“It makes an important statement that victims, in this case LGBTQ ones, are not to be blamed for these types of heinous crimes,” Hoylman said. “It's a fitting and important message to the LGBTQ community during this 50th anniversary of Stonewall.”

O'Donnell made the same point about the significance of the bill likely becoming law five decades after the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.

“Our state should send a message loud and clear 50 years after Stonewall, which was a riot started by trans women of color, who were not going to tolerate someone claiming that their gender identity or expression or their sexuality allowed someone to be murdered,” O'Donnell said.

Lawmakers have to wait three days since the bill was introduced Saturday to approve it in both chambers. That delay is required under state law. But once it's approved and signed by Cuomo, the measure would take effect immediately.

The legislation hadn't received much attention this year until Cuomo included it on a list of his top priorities for lawmakers to address before the end of this year's legislative session. Since then, he's held a handful of public events pushing lawmakers to approve the bill, which had stalled in the Legislature in the last several years.

That changed last week when the State Senate decided to unanimously approve a version of the bill different from the three-way agreement announced by Cuomo on Monday. They'll now have to take up the new version of the bill, which is expected to pass without opposition in the chamber. The Assembly, which hasn't voted on any version of the measure, is expected to approve it as well.

Cuomo has credited Hoylman and O'Donnell for bringing the issue to light in recent years. The legislation was partly inspired by the story of a transgender woman, Islan Nettles, who died in 2013 after she was struck by a man who discovered her gender identity.

Her assailant was sentenced to 12 years in prison after using the defense. He said at the time that, when Nettles revealed she was transgender, he became enraged and attacked her because of it. He later turned himself into the police and entered a guilty plea.

It's also supported by the New York State Bar Association. NYSBA President Hank Greenberg rallied with Cuomo last week to support the measure.

“The 'gay panic defense' is based on the horrific, noxious concept that LGBTQ lives are worth less than others,” Greenberg said. “That concept is violative to our core values as people and the very antithesis to equal justice under the law.”

Lawmakers could vote on the bill as early as Tuesday before they're scheduled to leave Albany for the year later this week.

READ MORE:

State Senate Approves Legislation to End 'Gay Panic' Defense in NY

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Cuomo Plans New Push to End 'Gay Panic' Defense by End of Session