South Australia is set to become the last state to remove "gay panic" as a murder defence, in line with the recommendations of a report delivered to the state government.
Under current law, a heterosexual man may claim that he was provoked to kill following a non-violent homosexual advance and, if successful, may have the charge downgraded to manslaughter.
"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."
Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said it was "simply no longer acceptable" to allow gay panic as a defence and committed to changing the law.
The report, published by the South Australian Law Reform Institute, investigated whether repealing the provocation defence may have an adverse effect.
Provocation laws can apply in other situations, including family violence scenarios, but the report found the current law was unfair to some victims.
