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Comments by Rep. Virginia Foxx while debating a measure related to federal hate-crimes legislation Wednesday have angered members of the gay community.

Foxx referenced the October 1998 killing of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who witnesses testified at trial was killed because he was gay.

“We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery,” Foxx said on the floor of the House. “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.”

Shepard’s killing became a rallying point for the gay rights community. Imagery connected with the slaying — Shepard was tied up, beaten and left for dead on a wooden fence — became an iconic rallying point for those pushing to include gays and lesbians in federal hate-crime protections.

Foxx was leading Republicans in debate connected to HR 1913, which would expand the number of crimes that would fall under federal hate-crime laws. The bill, which passed the House on a 249-175 vote, would add gays and lesbians to the categories of people protected under those laws.

Jim Neal, a one-time candidate for U.S. Senate who is gay, called Foxx’s statements “ignorant.”

“I’m baffled that any kind of elected representative would make that kind of absurd and heartless comment about a young man whose life was taken away from him, and taken away because he was gay,” Neal said.

A staffer for Foxx pointed to a report by the ABC program “20/20” that quoted a police detective as saying that drugs and money motivated the robbery-murder, not the fact that Shepard was gay.

News reports after the slaying indicated Shepard made a pass at one of the defendants. That man, Aaron McKinney, raised a “gay panic” defense at trial, saying he was so enraged because of traumatic boyhood experiences.

Foxx acknowledged using the word “hoax” might have been insensitive.

“The term 'hoax’ was a poor choice of words used in the discussion of the hate-crimes bill,” Foxx said in a statement Wednesday. “Mr. Shepard’s death was nothing less than a tragedy, and those responsible for his death certainly deserved the punishment they received.”

Still, the pushback against Foxx’s remarks continued. N.C. Democrats asked members to call the state Republican Party and challenge Foxx’s comments. Video spread across the Internet, and gay activists remained incensed.

“He was killed because he was gay and she is making light of that fact,” said Matt Comer, who grew up in Foxx’s Winston-Salem-based district and edits Q-Notes, a Charlotte-based publication geared toward a gay audience. “We shouldn’t forget why he died just like we shouldn’t forget why Hitler murdered Jews during World War II. It was hate.”

Foxx’s district is rated one of the nation’s more conservative.

“She’s not going to have any blow-back there,” Comer said. “More than likely, there will be a lot of people who agree with her.” Most of the outrage over her remarks, Comer said, would be limited to the gay community.

Contact Mark Binker at (919)832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com