HB 497 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

Ban on Gay and Trans Panic Defense.

HB 497 prohibits defendants in North Carolina from using a victim's sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, or sex as a defense in homicide or assault cases. It bans arguments that the defendant's reaction to discovering or perceiving someone's LGBTQ+ identity justified the crime, whether the belief was true or not. The law applies to all such cases occurring on or after December 1, 2025, and does not affect prosecutions for offenses committed before that date. This changes court procedures by removing a specific legal argument that has been used to reduce charges in some cases involving LGBTQ+ victims.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 24, 2025 Last action Mar 26, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Filed → Edition 1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill underwent administrative formatting changes during its legislative process, including updated sponsorship information and version numbering. No substantive policy changes were made to the bill's core provisions regarding the ban on gay and trans panic defenses.

TECHNICAL

Sponsorship information was updated to include Representative Alston as a co-primary sponsor and added a reference to the North Carolina General Assembly website for a complete sponsor list.

The bill's version number was changed from DRH10215-ML-39A to H497-v-1, and the filing date was updated from March 24, 2025 to March 26, 2025.

The 'House Principal Clerk' designation was removed from the header section.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 26, 2025

Committee

Ref To Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Mar 24, 2025

Introduced

Filed

lower

1 primary · 19 co-sponsors