April 29th, 2009
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) is our latest winner of the LaBarbera Award for her explanation of why she opposed the The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, otherwise known as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. That bill passed the House this afternoon.
During the debate leading up to the vote, Rep. Foxx lambasted the bill and the young man for whom the proposed legislation is named. While Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard watched the debate from the House gallery, Foxx called Matthew’s hate crime murder a “hoax”:
The hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard Bill is 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,” Foxx said from the floor of the House of Representatives.
A hoax? Really? That’s not what Laramie investigators found:
…[D]etectives dismissed the idea that the murder was the mere result of a robbery gone bad.
“Far from that!” scoffed Sgt. Rob DeBree, the chief investigator in the case. “They knew damn well he was gay … It started out as a robbery and burglary, and I sincerely believe the other activity was because he was gay.”
…[Convicted killer Russell] Henderson provided a detailed account of that plan. The killers identified Shepard as a lonely homosexual, an easy mark, and retreated to the bathroom to hatch their plot. Henderson made the first advance by whispering a come-on in Shepard’s ear, and “McKinney tried to feminize his voice to continue the lure,” DeBree said.
Laramie’s detectives and prosecutors had no doubts whatsoever that Matthew Shepard’s murder was a hate crime, and that he was specifically targeted because he was gay. The only hoax here is the reprehensible comment by Rep. Foxx. Making those comments in front of Matthew’s mother is beyond all measures of human decency. Which is exactly the sort of behavior we expect from a LaBarbera Award winner.
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Bruno
April 29th, 2009
I’m not sure even Michele Bachmann has done so much as dissed a murdered kid in front of his mother like that. UNbelievable bigotry, almost tops anything I’ve ever heard before.
----
April 29th, 2009
I’m also eagerly awaiting the bigots to mention the Emmett Till “hoax” in order to undo the advances of the civil rights movement.
Richard Rush
April 29th, 2009
Where is Perez Hilton now that we need him? But on second thought, the D.B. label would be much too kind for this despicable woman.
Piper
April 29th, 2009
Perez has weighed in on this, and him calling someone insulting names doesn’t help our cause. Although it feels good.
Bruce Garrett
April 30th, 2009
They’ll be milking that piece of sensationalist garbage 20/20 produced for generations to come. ABC News should never be allowed to walk away from responsibility for it.
gar
April 30th, 2009
Fitting. She also topped Keith Olbermann’s Worst Persons list last night. Foxx needs to just go away.
Eddie89
April 30th, 2009
Dang! This lady is off the charts!
Even Pat Buchanan said “Wow! That’s one mean, old, biatch!”
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