2 little 2 late? Rep. Foxx Sends Apology Letter To Matthew Shephard’s Mother

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx has written a letter of apology to the mother of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming man whose name is on a bill adding sexual orientation to federal hate-crimes legislation.

During recent debate on the bill, Foxx, R-5th, called attempts to label Shepard’s 1998 murder a hate crime “a hoax.” She said that he was killed during a robbery and not because he was gay.

Shepard, 21, was robbed, beaten and left to die on a prairie fence near Laramie, Wyo., in 1998. Two men pleaded guilty to killing him and testified that they singled him out because he was gay.

Foxx’s remarks caused an uproar, and she later issued a statement saying that her use of “hoax” was “a poor choice of words.”

See Virginia Foxx Sends Apology Letter To Matthew Shephard’s Mother

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WATCH GOP Rep: Story of Matthew Shepard’s Murder A “Hoax”

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.”

WATCH GOP Rep: Story of Matthew Shepard’s Murder A “Hoax”

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Obama pushes for hate crimes legislation

The White House released a statement urging the House to move forward on the Matthew Shepard Act.

Right Wing Watch: False alarm on hate crimes legislation…

Hate crimes leg introduced in House

The House Judiciary Committee will take up LGBT-inclusive hate crimes legislation today.

Hate crimes leg introduced in House

The House Judiciary Committee will take up LGBT-inclusive hate crimes legislation today.

Another lie from the far right: “All Violent Crimes Are ‘Hate Crimes”

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins is claiming “All Violent Crimes Are ‘Hate Crimes” after approval by the House Judiciary Committee of a proposed federal “hate crimes” bill, H.R. 1913.

We offer these two photos to rebut his fatuous claim.

In the upper photo see Sydney gay man Chen (Anthony) Liuas he looked before being set upon by gay bashers who killed him and left his body to decompose.

The lower photo shows what gay bashers do: it is an x-ray showing how they used a nail gun to kill this man. The decomposed body of 27 year old Mr Liu was discovered floating in the Georges River last November, the body been bound with electrical wire and wrapped in a rug. He had been shot in the head 30 times with a high powered nail gun. The nails embedded in his skull were up to 85mm long.

See how many nails they shot into his skull?

This is typical of a hate crime: a level of violence that far exceeds that of a robery or mugging.

Does Perkins get that? No: he claims “All violent crimes are hate crimes, and every victim is equally important. All of our citizens deserve equal justice under the law. Do we somehow care less about victims violently assaulted because of robberies or personal disputes than we do about those assaulted because they belong in a federally designated category?”

Any criminal act is hateful, but only some – those against people because of their color or orientation – are hate crimes. We can be sure that Perkins would be singing a different tune if those who followed his brand of “Christianity” were subject to the same level of hate crimes that LGBT people face every day.

It is un-American for Perkins and his ilk to use LGBT as cannon fodder in their effort to generate fund raising dollars and build political power.

But to mislead people about the need for hate crimes legislation to generate fund raising dollars and build political power is more of a ‘sin’ than anything two gay men can do to each other.

Shame on those seld-appointed “Christians” who pervert Christ’s teachings into a cover for the kind of homophobic violence that killed Mr. Liuas.

* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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Right Wing Watch: False alarm on hate crimes legislation…

Hate crimes leg introduced in House

The House Judiciary Committee will take up LGBT-inclusive hate crimes legislation today.

National Equality Rally at Independence Hall March for Equality on Independence Mall Sunday, May 3, 2009

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The National Park Service (NPS) has issued a First Amendment permit for a National Equality Rally at Independence Hall on Sunday afternoon, May 3, 2009 at Independence National Historical Park.

The goals of the National Equality Rally are:

– Passage of trans-inclusive hate crimes legislation and the Employment

Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)

– Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act

(DOMA)

– Support for GLBT health issues

– Equal benefits for same-sex families

– Same-sex marriage Equality

Regional, state and national organizations, people of color, progressive religious institutions, high school and college GSAs, and straight ally organizations will be represented as Co-Organizers. Over 100 organizations from across the nation will March for Equality on Independence Mall.

Leaders will carry their organization’s name on pole-mounted placards. Activists, participants and straight allies will be offered American and rainbow flags. After completion of the March for Equality, activists, organizations, and allies will fill in Independence Mall for a one-hour high-impact Rally.

Gay Pioneers Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz will lead grassroots activists, organizations, and straight allies in the March for Equality on Independence Mall from the National Constitution Center to Independence Hall.

The Rainbow Chorale of Delaware will open the Rally with a choral tribute, and 100 members of the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, Anna Crusis Women’s Choir and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia will sing a special rendition of “America the Beautiful” to end the Rally.

The Philadelphia Freedom Band and members of the national Lesbian and Gay Band Association will join the March for Equality on Independence Mall. The Lesbian and Gay Band Association marched in President Obama’s Inaugural Parade. There will be participants from the New York Big Apple Corps, D.C.’s Different Drummers, North Carolina Pride Band, and Flamingo Freedom Band of South Florida, among others, marching past the Liberty Bell Center and the Gay Pioneers Historic Marker to Independence Hall.

Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the Gay Pioneers held the first organized gay and lesbian civil rights demonstrations called “Annual Reminders” each Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969. The Annual Reminders laid the groundwork for the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and the first New York Pride Parade in 1970.

“Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the movement was launched. With a new Congress and a President who describes himself as a ‘fierce advocate’ of our civil rights, it is the right moment for us to join hands at an iconic location to demand Equality,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director of Equality Forum.

Equality Forum is a national and international GLBT civil rights organization with an educational focus. The National Equality Rally at Independence Hall will be held on the concluding day of Equality Forum 2009 (April 27 to May 3), the largest and premiere annual national and international GLBT civil rights forum.

For more information about the National Equality Rally at Independence Hall, visit www.nationalequalityrally.org. For more information on gay-friendly Philadelphia or to book a hotel stay, visit the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation’s website at www.gophila.com/gay.