Having gained prominence in 2010, after it was used by men accused of murder in Maryborough, HAD, which can be used under the provocation defence remains rare, but usable under Queensland law.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said there were no plans to exclude it.

"We are committed to making Queensland the safest place to live and work, regardless of your sexual preference," he said in a statement.

"The defence of provocation is open to any offender and is not based on one's sexuality.

"The law was strengthened in 2011, making provocation harder to establish as a defence by ensuring words alone do not amount to provocation unless exceptional circumstances exist."

But critics of the Queensland law said it does not go far enough in preventing the gay panic defence from being used.

Because of the mandatory sentencing which accompanies a murder conviction, provocation remains an important defence, allowing the opportunity for a suspect to be found guilty of manslaughter instead, if they can prove they were provoked into killing.

HAD, which has been used in Australia since the 1990s, relies on the accused proving they experienced temporary insanity after being overwhelmed by a homosexual advance.

New South Wales, one of the last remaining jurisdictions to continue to allow the HAD defence, along with Queensland and South Australia, amended its provocation laws earlier this year.

Under the amended NSW legislation, non-violent sexual advances are excluded from being used, as well as "conduct incited by the accused in order to provide an excuse to use violence against the deceased".

South Australia is also reviewing its laws.

In 2011, Queensland amended its provocation defence legislation, stipulating that it could no longer be based "on words alone, other than in circumstances of the most extreme and exceptional character".

Earlier this year, Dr Alan Berman, a senior lecturer in law at Newcastle Law School and his colleague Sher Campbell wrote that HAD "legitimises violence against gay men in Queensland, sending a message to the wider community that violence perpetrated against homosexuals is somehow less deserving of protection than violence committed against other members of the community".

Jason Andrew Pearce had been charged with murdering Wayne Robert Ruks in a Maryborough churchyard in 2008, but after using the defence, was found guilty of manslaughter and in 2010 was sentenced to nine years imprisonment.  He was released on parole in 2012, having served four years of his sentence. His co-accused, Richard John Meerdink, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in 2016.

In 2012, the Bligh government moved to abolish gay panic from being used as part of the provocation defence, despite the committee established to examine the issue not coming to an unanimous decision. Then Attorney-General Paul Lucas planned to amend section 304 which would have ensured "that an unwanted sexual advance would not be enough to establish provocation unless there were exceptional circumstances".

"It is not possible to remove sexual advances completely without affecting situations such as that of a battered woman who knows that her refusal of a sexual advance from her partner is a precursor to assault and she takes immediate action to stop this from happening," Mr Lucas said in a release at the time.

A spokesman for the state Opposition said it may be time to revisit the issue.

"Labor's position was clear in 2012," he said.

"If a conservative government in New South Wales can do it, surely the Newman Government can do it too."

Queensland Law Society President Ian Brown, while not addressing the specific use of the gay panic element of the provocation defence, said the overall provocation defence itself remained important.

"A jury is in the best position to determine whether a particular act amounts to provocation or not," he said in a statement.

"They are asked in cases of this nature whether what the provocation was such as to cause an ordinary person to lose self-control.

"People's right to a fair trial and defence is particularly important in Queensland where we have a mandatory sentencing regime for murder."