NATIONAL BRIEFING / NORTH CAROLINA
A congresswoman said she chose her words poorly when she deemed a “hoax†the claims that Matthew Shepard was murdered in 1998 because he was gay.
During House debate over a bill to expand the definition of hate crimes to include violence motivated by sexual orientation, Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx had said: “We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. 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.†The House approved the bill Wednesday.
Her spokesman said she relied on articles that she later realized were faulty and especially regrets upsetting Shepard’s family.
The court did not determine Shepard’s murderers’ motive.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
