Since the beginning of 2023, the Trans Legislation Tracker has reported that nearly 492 bills have been proposed in 47 states against the livelihoods, security, and existence of trans people. To put this into perspective, that is a 183-percent increase from the 174 anti-trans bills pushed in 2022, and we are only 98 days into 2023.

Now, pair this with the rise in aggressive anti-trans rhetoric from right-wing pundits on every corner of the internet, and we are left with a disturbing pattern. While the protections given to trans individuals decrease, the violence against them increases substantially, thus, leaving them in a state of physical and mental insecurity. Groups like the Trevor Project and the Human Rights Campaign report that this decline in security ends up manifesting as increased consideration of suicide among trans youth, increased symptoms of anxiety and depression, and worst of all, increased violence perpetrated against transgender people.

The rise in anti-trans violence is saddening, infuriating, and terrifying. Therefore, it is imperative that we combat it in any way possible. This includes pushing Democrats away from inaction, urging lawmakers to vote against anti-trans bills, and supporting LGBTQ+ groups that help provide resources to trans people across the U.S. With all this, there is one particular anti-LGBTQ+ loophole that must have immediate action taken against it.

Known as the “LGBTQ+ panic defense,” this loophole is a legal strategy that allows one’s sexual or gender identity to be used as justification against them in regard to a hate crime or homicide. Specifically, it argues that the victim’s sexuality or gender identity created panic in the suspect, which led them to harm or kill. From there, it falls into two main categories. Either the victim made sexual or romantic encounters, which led to the suspect committing violence against them, or the victim’s sexuality and gender identity led to the suspect using violence as means of self-defense. Although on its own it is merely a weak excuse, when it is used to uphold other arguments and defenses it has had success. As the LGBTQ+ Bar reports, one famous example of the LGBTQ+ panic defense in use is in the case of Matthew Shepard, a young, gay college student who was beaten, tortured, and killed in 1998. The men who brutally beat him to death tried to use his sexuality to justify their actions. Since then, this defense has been used numerous times to reduce the punishment that various perpetrators of hate crimes receive. Out magazine reports that it was used as recently as 2020 in Tennessee to justify the killing of a gay firefighter, Mack Bond, after he made non-violent sexual advances on a couple.

While some may attempt to excuse the violence in cases where the victim had made sexual advances, issues arise when we understand the way the defense strategy misrepresents victims’ actions. For example, in the Tennessee case, the couple shot Mack after he made sexual advances. However, these advances are explained by the fact that they were parked next to Mack in a well-known “gay cruising area,” which are places where gay people have historically searched or “cruised” for sexual partners and encounters. However, the manipulation of the truth doesn’t stop there — other cases have demonstrated that sometimes sexual advances are fabricated to be used as justification for violence.

Luckily, the LGBTQ+ Bar explains that 17 states have banned the use of the panic defense strategy, with New Mexico banning it most recently, in 2022. However, that leaves 33 states where LGBTQ+ people are left vulnerable to having their sexuality or gender identity weaponized against them. If you live in the states of Wisconsin, Texas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Iowa, or Florida, then bills against the panic defense strategy have been introduced, but require the support and urging of lawmakers in order to move further. This leaves 20 states that are yet to do the bare minimum and take action against this loophole, in order to protect LGBTQ+ citizens.

If you live in any of the 33 states where the LGBTQ+ panic defense strategy isn’t completely banned, I urge you to take whatever action you can to stop excuses from being used to justify hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community. This can include calling your local and state representatives to support bills against the defense strategy or take action against it; supporting groups like the LGBTQ+ Bar, which is working nationwide to take down this strategy; or aiding organizations that provide resources and support to LGBTQ+ people, either locally or nationwide.

Nobody should have to live in the fear that their sexual or gender identity can be used as justification for their killing in this day and age. Although taking down the LGBTQ+ panic defense strategy won’t magically halt all violence against queer people, it is the first step in improving the livelihood and security of LGBTQ+ people in our country — especially in a time when their existence is legally and politically under attack every single day.