Shame On You Rep. Foxx!

Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina took the floor of the House and debated against the Matthew Shepard Act which would extend hate crime protections to include sexual orientation. For me, her debating against these protections in itself is an outrage. Why would anyone stand in the way of hate crime protection for any group?

What was beyond outrage was that Rep. Foxx during her debate, stated the following, "We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay," Foxx said during debate. "The bill was named for him, the hate-crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills."

I was so disappointed in Representative Foxx’s actions that I wrote her and told her about it. I was disappointed that she referred to the story of Matthew Shepard as a hoax. I was disappointed that as a Congresswoman she took the floor of the House and spoke on a bill that she obviously had not researched. While I understand that she now has stated that she believes she used "a poor choice of words", I cannot believe that someone taking the floor of the House would not at least research and prepare talking points so that such a grave error would not occur.

I believe that our elected officials have a responsibility to at least protect the human rights of our citizens. Consequently, I urged her to educate herself on diversity issues prior to spreading further myths and stereotypes that could lead to future hate crimes. One site I recommended to her was the Human Rights Campaign.

Please take the time to tell Representative Foxx what you think about her actions by emailing her.

Fortunately, the Matthew Shepard Act passed the house.