Virginia Foxx: Story of Matthew Shepard's Murder A "Hoax" (VIDEO)

As the House of Representatives debates an expansion of hate crimes legislation, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) has taken the rhetoric to a new level, claiming that those who say Matthew Shepard was murdered in Wyoming for being gay are perpetrating a "hoax" on the American people.

"I also would like to point out that there was a bill -- 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," said Foxx.

A Foxx spokesman didn't immediately return a call. The Matthew Shepard "hoax" notion is a popular meme on right-wing blogs.

The Matthew Shepard Foundation is dedicated to reducing hate crimes.

The New York Times reported in 1998: "According to the 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."

"She should be ashamed," said Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), himself a victim of a hate crime during the struggle for civil rights. "That is unreal, unbelievable. The law enforcement people and almost every reasonable person I know believes he was murdered because he was gay."

UPDATE: Glenn Thrush has it that his mother may have been in the gallery when Foxx aired her theory.

"Matthew Shepard's mother was in the gallery yesterday and I believe she was back today -- so I'm sorry she had to be around to hear it," Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) told Thrush. "It's an urban myth... And I'd tell her that man did land on the moon and the moon wasn't made out of green cheese."

Media Matters uploaded the video of Foxx's statement. WATCH:

UPDATE: A reader says that the only phone number for Foxx that doesn't go to a totally full voice mail box is at her campaign office -- 877-253-0861. Just sayin'.

Ryan Grim is the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[indy girl]

Please consider a donation to the Matthew Shephard Foundation.

You can donate in honor of Virginia Foxx, and fight homophobia and ignorance.

send a message announcing your gift to:
Virginia Foxx
2575 Old Glory Rd, PO Box 1100
Clemmons, NC, 27012-9562

http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/PageServer
(The "donate" link is on the top left of the menu bar.) or

Matthew Shepard Foundation
301 Thelma #512
Casper, WY 82609

[delta queen]

that's probably much more affective than the letter I wrote her via her web page (had to fib that I was from Winston Salem). I read this b4 going to sleep last night and was so disgusted. WWJD?

[indy girl]

Jesus probably wouldn't associate with hateful bigots like Virginia Foxx!!!!!!!

[sailor422]

Sounds like Bachman but harder to look at.

[ericsvenson]

WOW!!! Ignorant, insensitive, and plain lazy of her not to check facts before making this statement. Just a typical older woman against gay rights. Oh Im sorry, this hate crime must be a mistake right because there are no gay people that exist in this country right? WAKE UP WOMAN TIMES ARE A CHANGIN so stop offending millions of Americans. Maybe you should retire already.

[dwright]

Okay - I have disliked this woman and now she has GOT TO GO. I am not in her district, but I will be actively sending this to everyone in NC that I know. I hope she is toast in her next election.

[FrankTalk]

Virginia Foxx should be removed from office for this. At minimum, she should be censored. Where are the people of North Carolina to speak against her or are they as filled with hatred. Are there any people from North Carolina on this blog? What will you do about your representative? Shame on her. Shame on North Carolina. I will contribute money to defeat her in the next election. The beauty of all this is that her hatred, ignorance, and lack of compassion will come back to her as she attracts the same to herself. She will definitely reap what she has sown today. I pity her for the karma she is bringing on herself.

Peace and calm to everyone disturbed by this event.

[ladydragon]

just like Michelle Bachman and her ranting, she should be removed from office and receive mandatory counseling for her outburst. Neither of these women are going anywhere, the people of their state have short memories and will soon forget about this outrageous statement and she will be re-elected over and over again. Right now there are too many other issues to be worried about, yes her comments were out of line, but folks are more worried about loosing their jobs and homes.

[progressivegreg]

Another name to add to the wall of hate Joanne Voorhese Kent County Mi. Republican chair.

[IcedTee63]

Do they get points for saying this stuff?

[PartTimeRoadie]

Sadly, they do. Someone, somewhere, is tracking their "Pro-Traditional Values" voting/speaking record, and this broad just helped her rating plenty

[BoyInBOYCOTT]

Keith Olbermann kicked Ms. Foxx right in her teeth in WORST PERSON.

again thank you Keith!

[indy girl]

Really--that diatribe was excellent. She deserved worse.

[filo]

He also mentioned that Mathew Shepard's mother was in the gallery, which makes Foxx's statement that much disgusting.

[QuietTom]

It seems that Republicans say lots of things based on facts from another dimension. But what this Foxx woman said has sickened me. And to top it all off, I understand that Matthew's mom was in the House when Foxx said, "We all know it is a hoax." I'm reacting to this incident like never before. Shameful sorry excuse for an old woman. And to think she is a legislator in our House of Representatives, probably representing like-minded banjo-playing people back home in the woods of North Carolina. It's very scary.

[dwright]

I am sorry to say that Winston-Salem is not backwoods at all -

Here is the data in percents from the Presidential election of 08
NC 5 Foxx (R) 38Obama 61McCain 33Kerry 66Bush 33Gore 66Bush

Obama received a higher percentage of vote than either Kerry or Gore which means the trend is moving to the Democrats in her area. I also believe that if we could get a strong female or unfortunately to be honest a strong (white) male dem. we could defeat her. Even a Blue Dog dem is better than a nut.

[ladybastet]

"Even a Blue Dog dem is better than a nut."

I couldn't agree more!

[indy girl]

Winston-Salem is not a backwoods, but they are backward enough that they have elected this fossil to office. So they're not quite as advanced as you think. Or maybe she's just from the bigoted side of the tracks?

And W-S has plenty of racists--the last time I was down there I was horrified to hear the word N----r used freely.

[GolfingDevil05]

Hate crime legislation may be one of the few areas that I am not totally in sync with many of my fellow Democrats. I'm not sure it's possible to legislate against what lies in people's hearts or minds, nor am I sure that any crime that isn't "victimless" isn't filled with hate of some kind. Murder is wrong, no matter what the motive is. Assault is wrong, no matter what is behind it. Rape is wrong, no matter the circumstances.

That being said, Rep. Virginia Foxx may have vaulted ahead of Rep. Michele Bachmann into the lead in the race to be the craziest and most vile member of Congress. Her speech on the floor of the House about the crime committed against Matthew Shepard was either 1) an intentional lie or 2) a gross misunderstanding of the facts of the case. There is plenty of evidence that this crime was entirely about hatred of gay people but either she didn't like the truth and thus changed the facts to suit her argument, or didn't care enough to investigate whether she was correct.

So, congratulations, Rep. Foxx. You have just provided the argument *FOR* the hate crime bill's passage. You have shown how far we still have to go in terms of erasing the scourge of bigotry and hatred of minority groups in this country, and that perhaps a draconian remedy is needed to stop more crimes like this.

[AAKAlan]

Let's make it clear what a hate crime is.

Robbery, car-theft, rape, most assaults are not hate crimes, they don't serve to intimidate entire groups of people.

A hate crime is designed to discourage crimes that are simply designed to cause pain and punishment for a member of a group because of the group they belong to - and is limited to groups that have a history of being violently assaulted over time.

It is a civil rights issue, not a crime issue. It adds a civil rights dimension to crimes that otherwise might be treated as simply criminal acts like the ones I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

When gays are no longer murdered because they are gay, they will be removed from the "hate crime" classification.

Sadly, that cannot happen soon enough. Every day, a gay is assaulted or murdered in the US just for being gay - not for being robbed, or raped.

[GolfingDevil05]

That still doesn't answer the question of how it's going to prevent further hate crimes. If the sentence for murder, for example, is already life in prison without parole, what does adding a hate crime charge on top of that do to deter similar actions? Unless you're in favor of capital punishment (I'm personally against it), there's no more room for sentencing on top of that.

My point is twofold: 1) I'm not sure there's a valid way to prosecute what is in someone's mind, and 2) I don't see it being an effective deterrent. I understand why people want it passed, but I don't think it's what will solve the problem of hate crimes.

[susanhb]

I am sickened for Matthew's mother to have to endure more pain. How can that horrible Foxx woman use such a tragedy for political statements and try to twist the truth for her political gains. I sincerely hope that it will backfire on her and enough people will finally realize how low some republicans will sink in order to further their agendas. Anybody that will applaud this woman, even from her party should be ashamed. Expecting her to regret what she said is a futile thought. Anybody that can come up with something that evil is beyond normal human feelings.T­here is a special heaven for some people as well as special hell for some. And we don't make the decision where we are heading.Ou­r actions do.
I have not been this mad in a long time.

[ThankGodhesgone]

Perhaps the congresswoman would like to state that Matthew's death was just 'an unfortunate incident' directly to his family.

I hope she does not have children, No parent of any child could be this unfeeling, but then maybe this is part of the Republican's new branding strategy.

[ladybastet]

I'm sorry to say this, but according to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rowe/what-an-ogress-you-are-co_b_193167.html she has grandchildren even. Totally frightening! One can only hope they grow to recognize hatred for what it is.

[indy girl]

stupid reproduces freely, unfortunately.

[Shieldmaiden]

Sickening and cruel. I haven't been this angy in a long time. This nonsense is an outrage.

[ladybastet]

You and me both. When I first read about this I was so angry I couldn't see straight!

[lynnn]

most ppl don't know that the guys who killed Matthew had been in a fight w/some hispanic men that day and had tried to beat them up (they got served). Basically hate is hate. Those men who killed Matthew. were guilty of a few hate crimes that week.

Matthew was so small, he couldn't rob anyone, plus he was from a wealthy family, so sad.
This woman is evil.

[Foreground]

I think that what Foxx was saying (incorrectly) was that he was killed by people commiting a robbery on him, not that they were defending themselves from him trying to rob them.

She's still wrong, though.

[researcher]

she is a good example of a repub

very low on soul evolution chart

the repubs see the world different

there is a reason for this

but few understand why

[bazokbros]

Of course this reprehensible person said this on the same day Michele Bachmann was making the case that if a gay person is hit in a cross work by a straight person, then it's a hate crime and vice versa then it's not a hate crime. Bachmann also claimed that the bill she was talking about said that if people chose to be gay, they were more protected than straight people. Kinda like how white people are constant victims of reverse discrimination, which is exactly what both of their speeches meant how white people are under attack and hate the "others." Hate and fear breed malcontent and Foxx and Bachmann are exactly the perversion of people who sincerely believe they are doing the work of God.

[lynnn]

Interesting that white women benefit the most from affirmative actions (they are the largest underrepresented minority group so I'm not saying it should be any different). However, these two white woman ick!

[indy girl]

Hopefully the voters in her district will find another white woman to take her place next election. Pretty much anyone off the street under the age of 50 would be more evolved (unless it is one of her relatives, of course).

[roseytrebles]

I haven't been this angry at a politician in a long time, and given the last eight years (plus McCain! And PALIN!), that's saying something. Really, honestly..­.words fail me. They didn't just a second ago though, heheh, when I wrote a rather biting complaint through Foxx's email form on her website, under Miscellaneous--it was kind of cathartic! I say we flood her office!

If anyone else wants to do the same, the web address is:

http://www.foxx.house.gov/?sectionid=95&sectiontree=3,95

You have to enter an address in her district of NC in order for it to go through...­so I picked the address of the Winston-Salem GOP headquarters. Which is, by the way--

Winston-Salem Victory Office
2110 Cloverdale Ave, Suite D
Winston Salem, NC 27103-2516

[mariannef]

I think the email will still go through, but they won't be able to respond to it. I tried it and got a message that stated the email was sent, but will not be responded to. Thanks for posting this link!

[treetracker]

Thanks! She's getting my email.