Chicago Free Press Editorial: They can’t deny it any longer

Chicago Free Press Editorial: They can’t deny it any longer
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
May 6, 2009
http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/3461


A North Carolina Congresswoman had to take back her choice of words last week, after referring to Matthew Shepard’s murder as a hoax during debate on the hate crimes legislation that ultimately passed the House.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said during the debate that “The bill was named for (Shepard) … 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.”

When widespread outrage over her comments followed, Foxx was forced to backpedal.

“It has come to my attention that some people have been led to believe that I think the terrible crimes that led to Matthew Shepard’s death in 1998 were a hoax,” Foxx said last week, adding “ … The term “hoax” was a poor choice of words used in the discussion of the hate crimes bill. Mr. Shepard’s death was nothing less than a tragedy, and those responsible for his death certainly deserved the punishment they received.”

Foxx further said that the “larger context” of her remarks was important, and that she was referring to a 2004 news report questioning the motivation of Shepard’s attackers.

“Referencing this media account may have been a mistake, but it was a mistake based on what I believed were reliable accounts,” Foxx added.

We would guess that Foxx was probably less sorry for actually making those remarks than getting called out for making them. But the Congresswoman’s situation is indeed emblematic of a larger context.

First, the current political climate—at least in the national arena—partially dictates that politicians who make ignorant and/or vicious remarks about GLBTs will be called to the carpet. Elected officials who pander to constituents on the Right by making venal comments about our community will likely find out that those comments can blow up in their faces. Long gone are the days when Barney Frank can be off-handedly referred to as “Barney Fag” by a colleague and have only a handful of people take notice.

Second, Foxx’s flub points to the fact that our opponents on the Right are running out of ideas on how to deal with us, so they’re just resorting to old-fashioned denial. It’s a last-ditch effort for a fringe trying to push a failing agenda.

Foxx likely knew that there was no logical rationale for her to vote against this measure. While some opponents to hate crimes measures cite concerns about free speech issues, very few of them—especially in the political arena—are largely able to articulate those concerns in a manner that doesn’t fall back into anti-gay rhetoric.

So, in stating her opposition, Foxx essentially called on her colleagues to pretend the incident didn’t occur and the problem didn’t exist.

But the collective memory of the Shepard incident was more powerful than Foxx’s lame comments. Our community, and fortunately, many outside it, could not forget about what happened in Wyoming and rightly made the Congresswoman eat her words.