I knew she was trouble when she was elected, but today’s performance in the House of Representatives by North Carolina Republican Virginia Foxx clinches it. Foxx’s attempt to block updating hate crime legislation to include crimes committed against people based on their sexual orientation was at best ignorance and at worse, deep rooted bigotry.

Matthew Shepard was the young gay man in Laramie, Wyoming who, a decade ago, was tied to a fence, pistol whipped in the head some 50 times, then left for dead in the night, only to be found a day later clinging to life. Shepard died five days later. Even though Shepard’s murderers admitted that they lured and killed him because he was gay, NC representative V. Foxx pretends that fact doesn’t exist. Witness her plea that the motives behind Shepard’s murder were a “hoax”:

I thought the days of the likes of Jessie Helms were long gone, but incidents like this are painful reminders. I take solace in the fact that North Carolina stepped up and voted for Barack Obama this fall in record numbers, so there is still hope. If you’re moved to action as I am after watching this sorry excuse for an NC elected representative, then call or write her offices and make your displeasure known:

Phone: (202) 225-2071
Phone: (336) 778-0211
Phone: (828) 265-0240