Posted on 05/05/2009 3:16:57 PM PDT by DesertRenegade
A Republican lawmaker has enraged supporters of "hate crimes" legislation for suggesting that the horrible murder of Matthew Shepard was not motivated by anti-homosexual bigotry.
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) drew the ire of homosexual activists and other supporters of hate crimes legislation last week when she suggested that the tragic 1998 murder of college student Matthew Shepard was not a hate crime.
"We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay," Foxx said on the House floor. "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."
Foxx later apologized for using the word "hoax," and said it "may have been a mistake" to reference two media accounts that reported robbery was the motive for the Shepard murder.
In 2004, Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News reported that one of the lead investigators in the Shepard case believed robbery was the primary motive. Former Laramie Police detective Ben Fritzen told Vargas, "Matthew Shepard's sexual preference or sexual orientation certainly wasn't the motive in the homicide."
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says the idea that Shepard was brutally murdered "just because he was gay" is a myth.
"I think it's sad that Matthew Shepard's case continues to be exploited by homosexual activists. Even in schools there's the 'Laramie Project,' which is a pro-homosexual play which sort of builds on the Matthew Shepard myth. That's still used today to advance the hate crimes concept," he contends. "I think his case, again, proves that homosexual activists in this politically correct environment get greater attention than any other victim."
Hate crimes = thought crimes = 1984. It is nothing but a marxist, totalitarian construct.
Damnit Congresswoman, stand your ground! Stop apologizing to these bastards!
I personally don’t think there is any legitimate need for hate crimes legislation. A victim is still a victim regardless what was on the perps mind and should be punished as needed. Equal crimes should do equal time.
Well, telling the truth will now be considered a “hate crime”.
“... has enraged supporters ... drew the ire of homosexual activists “
Sure is a lot of anger and hate coming from the “anti-hate” brigade.
That said, Matthew Shepard was killed because he was Gay. The two guys beat him to death because supposedly he came on to them.
She was wrong.
"..Jesse William Dirkhising (May 24, 1986 – September 26, 1999), also known as Jesse Yates, was an American teenager from Prairie Grove, Arkansas who was bound, drugged, tortured, raped, and died as a result of the position in which he was tied down.[5][6]
Dirkhising's death, later ruled a murder, received only regional media coverage until a Washington Times article ran a story nearly a month after his death noting the lack of national coverage in contrast to that given to the death of Matthew Shepard.[7][8] The high-profile Shepard murder was approaching its first anniversary and as such was getting another round of national attention coupled with updates on pending hate crime legislation.[9] Prompted by coverage in the Washington Times, the Dirkhising case gained notoriety as conservative commentators compared media coverage of the two cases and explored the issues of what was considered a hate crime.[8].."
Hey-supporters of ‘hate crimes’ legislation are ‘enraged’.Great! Let’s keep it up.Stop accepting these people’s and the media’s template what is and is not rage -worthy.
Somebody tell lawmakers that motive is not an element of crime. Please stop remaking thousands of years of tradition.
My son was a student at the University of Wyoming when this crime occured. The word on campus at that time was that the killers did not know that Matt Shepard was gay......in fact, very few people did know.
Even if they did know, it is no more or less vile a murder than the punks that knocked off the little old lady to steal $10.
So what if it was? The perps should fry in the same chair either way.
I remember watching a docudrama on MTV about Shepard. Can’t remember the title. Probably “Hateful Crime: The Matthew Shepard Story”. Anyway, the only scene I remember took place in a university lecture hall. It was intended to demonstrate Shepard’s brave soul or independent spirit or something. He stood up to an intolerant professor who dismissed some French literati—Voltaire? Rimbaud? I don’t remember—for being a homo.
Yeah, that’s right, Shepard confronted a conservative university professor. Let me repeat that. Conservative university professor. The left lives in a funny world.
From Accuracy in Media:
Exploiting Matthew Shepard
The truth is that he was the victim of a robbery gone bad by two drug addicts. What’s more, Shepard was also a heavy drug user who was HIV-positive. Not only were the perpetrators of this brutal crime not “homophobes,” but one of them knew Shepherd and was allegedly bisexual. The real story of the Matthew Shepard case, as the prosecutor says on “20/20,” concerns the dangers of methamphetamine. The two killers and Shepard were big meth users.
http://www.aim.org/media-monitor/exploiting-matthew-shepard/
“Not to mention that all crimes are crimes of hate.”
Ask a lib if it’s possible to commit a violent crime out of love. I could imagine it, I guess. You know, “If I can’t have you no one can!” But they won’t be able to. They’ll proceed to tell you love is not the opposite of hate. Indifference is. So I guess when white heterosexual males rob eachother, they do so out of indifference.
I had a high school teacher once who told me indifference means you’d spit on someone soon as look at them. I beg to differ. There’s no reason indifference can’t be experienced within the bounds of acceptable social behavior (which people observe not out of love but out of habit). I figure indifference is pretty much what I feel for all of humanity, accepting people I know and either love or hate (and attractive women).
Because that’s the only way the gays can get their agenda anywhere by lying about it.
“That said, Matthew Shepard was killed because he was Gay. The two guys beat him to death because supposedly he came on to them.”
Were there eye/ear witnesses? Did the offenders admit as much?
So the Democrats want to prosecute people for so called “hate crimes”? Let them start with those filthy vermin who perpetrated the butcheries in Wichita and Knoxville.
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