Hearing this just made my heart sink. It’s a horrible mischaracterization of what happened to Matthew Shepard, who was selected, tortured, left for dead, and yes, robbed, because he was gay.
Congresswoman Foxx was arguing against a hate crime bill when she went off the deep end. Sure, the bill bears Matthew’s name, so evidently she wanted to clarify her thoughts on the case itself, but what in the hell was she thinking? How does this explanation even help her case? What does it have to do with hate crime legislation? Was she hoping to prove that crimes against gays just don’t happen, thus negating the need for a hate crime law?
I’m not hugely in favor of hate crime laws, but this seems like just about the weakest argument one could make against it - not to mention that it’s horribly ignorant and hurtful.
I read that Matthew Shepard’s mom was present when Congresswoman Foxx made these remarks. I can only imagine how much that hurt her to hear them.
Virginia Foxx is like a (pardon the hyperbole) Nazi grandmother. She’d give you cookies in person but vote to have you shipped to the ghetto in session.
Reply to dcroweTo me.. the woman came across like she was drunk or otherwise impaired and her comments reflected that. I got the distinct impression she knew nothing about the actual case but was just blabbering something she had been told in a partisan gab session. I felt totally embarrassed that this woman is in the Congress representing anyone!
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