Crazy Like a Foxx (and not in a good way!)

In case you didn't hear, homophobia from North Carolina made the national news again last week.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, representing NC's fifth national congressional district, was broadcast on CSPAN last week saying the Matthew Shepherd murder was hoax.

Now, what she was actually saying was that the idea that he was killed because he was gay was a hoax used to drive forward expansion of hate crime legislation, not that his death was a hoax. Obviously, though, this idea is just as bad, especially since it was factually established that his murder was an anti-gay hate crime.

She was trying to prevent the current hate crime law from being expanded to include women, people with disabilities, and, oh yes, LGBT people.

She asserts, despite evidence and testimony to the contrary, that Matthew Shepherd's death was just a robbery gone bad. In case you don't recall, the whole robbery-gone-bad canard came up at the time of his murder and was thoroughly, thoroughly debunked.

Media Matter has a great summary of the situation, including videos, and her erroneous statements with corrections and evidence to back up the corrections.

It's shameful that such a horrific tragedy should suffer the double-disrespect of then being denied. Matthew Shepherd was gay and he was killed for being gay - no one should try to recloset him or his death. How dehumanizing to not only deny the circumstances of his life and death, but also simply to belittle the brutal murder of a 21-year-old college kid.

Foxx has since issued a half-hearted apology.

Take a look at the video and listen to her statements.



If you live in her district and would like to let her know how you feel about what she said and educate her on the facts, you can contact her at:
(202) 225-2071
(336) 778-0211
(828) 265-0240

As always, be polite but firm. Education can only occur within civil dialogue, and one cannot correct disrespect by being disrespectful.