Testimony was provided by Judy Shepherd, mother of Matthew Shepherd, a gay student who was tortured and murdered in 1998, as well as LGBT+ advocacy organisation Out & Equal.
After the vote to pass the bill, Roem explained on Twitter: “For those wondering how often this comes up in court in Virginia, we presented eight cases and documented a ninth during committee.
“All of these cases, the murder/assault of an LGBTQ person was blamed on the victim by the perpetrator who hoped to play on the fears/prejudice of the judge/jury to either have a sentence reduced or dismissed.
That is not nearly an exhaustive, complete list… This [bill] means someone’s mere existence as an LGBTQ person does not excuse someone else and does not constitute a reasonable provocation to commit such a heat of passion attack.”