South Australia has abolished "gay panic" as a defence in crimes of violence with state parliament passing legislation to end the "downright offensive" provisions.
It's the last state in Australia to do so.
The provocation defence meant it was possible to have convictions downgraded if the accused successfully argued they were provoked to violence by an unwanted homosexual advance.
Most notably, the defence could be used by a criminal court to downgrade a charge of murder to one of manslaughter in certain circumstances, though it was only used four times over the past 10 years.
"The law as it stands in regards to the gay panic defence is downright offensive," Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said.
"The amendments in the Provocation Bill brings the law into line with modern community expectations."
The change also follows an investigation by the Human Rights Law Centre which recommended in 2018 that the defence be abolished.
"This is a law that is clearly rooted in discrimination, completely out of step with community standards and has absolutely no justification today," said Lee Carnie, a lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre.
"It is well past time that this defence be removed from our laws once and for all."
Ms Chapman said she believed the new bill struck the right balance between removing the outdated defence and ensuring important protections remained in place.
Among those protections was a provision to allow provocation to still be used in the context of family domestic violence.
The legislation passed the parliament with the support of the Labor opposition and crossbench MPs.
The parliament has also passed legislation to clear the records of people convicted of historic homosexual offences.
SA repealed homosexual crimes in 1975, but did not erase convictions recorded before that time.
Ms Chapman said the latest changes would enhance the rights of LGBTIQ+ community members, and make it easier for people to remove criminal charges that were now recognised as being grossly discriminatory and offensive.
"The bill allows people charged with these archaic convictions to clear their name," she said.
"It brings the law in line with modern community expectation."
The amendments can also be applied to include non-sexual offences that were frequently used against members of the gay community, such as loitering.
