The federal LGBT-inclusive hate-crimes bill passed in the House yesterday, but Republican representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina took to the House floor to offer her two cents, saying Matthew Shepard’s death, while unfortunate, wasn’t a hate crime - it was a hoax.

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“The bill was named after a very unfortunate incident that happened, where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of robbery,” Foxx said on the House floor, The Advocate reports.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and subsequently murdered near Laramie, Wyoming. He was attacked on the night of October 6–October 7, 1998 and died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12, from severe head injuries.

During the trial, witnesses stated that Shepard was targeted because he was gay. His murder brought national as well as international attention to the issue of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.

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