4/29/2009 2:50 PM
The House of Representatives approved Wednesday the addition of sexual orientation to the Federal Hate Crimes Bill. Also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, the addition was passed 249-175 and now goes to the Senate. The House’s debate over the Bill proved to be quite interesting, particularly when one North Carolina Congresswoman referred to the notion that Shepard’s murder was a hate crime as a “hoax.”
The Matthew Shepard Bill had already been nearly sabotaged by the time it made its way to the House floor. Debate over the Bill in the House Judiciary Committee saw Republican committee members offering ridiculous amendments to a piece of legislation that was intended to protect America’s gay citizenry. Attempted amendments “sought to include unborn children, military members and pregnant women in the measure. Another proposed amendment sought to strip passages regarding ‘gender identity’ from the bill,” according to the Washington Blade.
Virginia Foxx, a Republican representative for the state of North Carolina, made the following remark earlier today:
“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 the young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. The bill was named for him... but it’s really a hoax.”
Watch the clip here:
As the clip notes after Foxx’s ignorant tirade, “According to local police and prosecutors, the two men lured Mr. Shepard out of a bar by saying they were gay. Then, the Laramie police say, the pair kidnapped Mr. Shepard, pistol-whipped him with a .357 Magnum, and left him tied to a ranch fence for 18 hours until a passing bicyclist spotted Mr. Shepard, who was unconscious.”
I don't know about North Carolina, but that sounds like a hate crime to me!
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