Politics | 04/29/2009 3:15 pm
Rep. Virginia Foxx: Matthew Shepard Hate Crime a 'Hoax' (Video)
Rep. Virginia Foxx believes Matthew Shepard’s death was a simple robbery, not a hate crime.
YouTube
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx reiterated a popular right-wing argument today when she said the idea that Matthew Shepard was murdered because he was gay amounts to nothing more than a "hoax."
Shepard, you’ll recall, was the 21-year-old college student lured by two men from a gay bar, beaten and then tied to a fence and left for dead. Progressive lawmakers, including President Barack Obama, are asking Congress to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill, which would make it a federal crime to target victims because they’re gay or transgendered. Foxx insists, however, that Shepard’s death was a simple robbery.
Said the lawmaker, who hails from North Carolina:
I also would like to point out that there was a bill — the hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard bill — it’s named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. This — the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.
Shepard’s killers’ girlfriends both testified at the trial that they were specifically looking to attack a gay man.
Watch Foxx’s remarks, via Media Matters:
Read more about: Barack Obama, Hate Crimes Legislation, Matthew Shepard, News, Politics, Video, Virginia Foxx
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99 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
Please moderate and rationale Republicans - Take back your party. For too long, you have allowed this thinly veiled bigotry to fester just below the surface. This rhetoric is dangerous to the health of democracy.
I was an early supporter of President Obama and am pleased at his current popularity and success; yet, I look forward and recognize the need for healthy opposition. One representative from North Carolina repeating absurd and twisted logic is not dangerous, but this seems to be a pattern. Speak up, rational friends across the aisle! Your country needs you.
Ask Senator Arlen Specter. Oh, wait…
Lawrence,
Please don’t say NC deserves whatever ridicule she brings on us. She’s only one representative… and she’s from a part of the state that is usually pro-Rep. She does not stand for the majority of North Carolinians. I’ve already put in my 2 cents worth to her via email. As I said earlier to someone, she’s a real macadamia.
In my home state of Alabama, there were two seperate cases which recieved moderate in-state coverage: the murder of Billy-Jack Gaither, and the killing of Scotty-Joe Weaver. In both instances these young man were murdered because of their sexual orientation. The heinous murder of Matthew Shepard was one high-profile case. Unfortunately there are many, many more victims in many more places whose stories are not widely told. I do not know what plane of reality that Rep. Foxx operates on, but I can assure her homosexuals are singled out and victimized (to varying degrees) every day, and in every state across the U.S. One only needs to look at the latest antics of Fred Phelps and his ilk to see the hatred which is directed towards gay people, as well as their straight supporters. Also, she can read the latest news about children who commit suicide because they can no longer endure the taunts of "fag", "queer", etc. If Foxx thinks these issues of hate are hoaxes, she needs to be transported to the nearest rubber room where she can have a nice long "rest"…She obviously isn’t playing with a full deck!
http://gaynorfolk-net.norfolk.on.ca/life-on-brians-beat/weaver.html
Thank you, LL, and you’re right, but as the song goes, "You Have To Be Taught How to Hate"! Grrrrr…. I’m getting messages all over the place about this ooooooooohhh… there’s not a bad enough name for her.