7/20: EQCA Urges You to Attend "Gay/Trans Panic" Town Hall Meeting

EQUALITY CALIFORNIA


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What: Town Hall Meeting on Hate Crimes and "Gay/Trans Panic Defense"

Where: San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market St.

When: Thursday, July 20, 6:30 p.m.


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July 18, 2006




Please join San Francisco District Attorney Kamala D. Harris for a town hall meeting to discuss
the "gay panic" defense in courtroom strategies.

The Town Hall meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, July 20th at The San Francisco
LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street in San Francisco.

Guest Speakers include: Sylvia Guerrero, mother of Gwen Araujo and Dave O'Malley, former Police
Chief of Laramie, Wyoming and Chief Investigator in the Matthew Shepard murder case.

Equality California is the sponsor of AB 1160, The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act. AB 1160
would amend jury instructions in California to state that the use of societal bias, including
so-called "panic strategies," to influence the proceedings of a criminal trial is not permitted.


Gay panic strategies exploit negative stereotypes in an attempt to blame lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender (LGBT) victims for the violence committed against them. This strategy has been
used in cases when the victim is gay-as in the Matthew Shepard case-or transgender-as in the
2002 murder of Gwen Araujo, a transgender teenager.

Yours,

Seth Kilbourn
Political Director
Equality California


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Equality California http://www.eqca.org
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