The Sweet:
Yesterday The House of Representatives passed a bill expanding federal protection against hate crimes to disability, gender, and
sexual orientation.

The bill, which was approved by a margin of 249-175, passed in a sharply-divided partisan vote. An overwhelming majority of Democrats supported the measure, while most Republicans were opposed.

politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/200...ill/

The Bitter:
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,"

www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0...71.html

I stayed up very, very late last night, thinking of Virginia Foxx's statements, reading things from other people who feel the same way. How can you believe this was a hoax? How can you believe that Matthew Shepard was not brutally beaten, tortured, and left to die, for 18 hours tied to a fence simply because he was gay?

Is it because you can't get your mind around that fact or is because you feel that it's somehow ok to single out a gay person to torture and murder provided you take $20 from them in the process, since we'll be able to prosecute them for robbery?

The murderers provided a "Gay Panic" defense. The murderers girlfriends stated, under oath, that they had planned to seek out a gay man to rob that evening. They conspired together (in the bathroom) to pretend to be gay to lure Matthew away from the bar for the purpose of attacking him.

Please help me understand.

I'm glad this bill passed, but sick to my stomach over the fact that one of our elected leaders has the audacity to question the validity of this heinous crime in front of the victim's mother. (Matthew Shepard's mother was present during this speech).

Really Representative Virginia Foxx, how dare you?

I'm dedicating this day to Speaking about Matthew Shepard, The Laramie Project and your LIES to the American People.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard
www.tectonictheaterproject.org/Th...tml
www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0...71.html