No, Virginia, there was no “hoax.”

And no, Virginia Foxx, fatally beating a 21-year-old man  is not an “unfortunate incident.”

You took to the U.S. House floor April 29 to oppose passage of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, also known as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, as a representative from North Carolina and as the floor manager of opposition to the bill.

You said, “The hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard Bill is 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 a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. This — the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”

But no, Virginia, the outcry over Shepard’s violent death was no “hoax.” Nor was the press response, the court response, the law enforcement response, the penal response, the legislative response nor the grassroots response part of a massive “hoax” on the American public to promote a gay agenda or to trick lawmakers into imposing unjust or unnecessary laws on people.

Yes, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney robbed Matthew Shepard, but they were not sentenced to double life terms in prison for robbery.

And no, no, no, Virginia, the killing was not an “unfortunate incident.”

An unfortunate incident is a small occurrence: locking your keys in the car, plugging up the kitchen sink, forgetting to set the alarm, letting the dog chew your homework, losing a library book, missing the bus, leaving your resume on the office printer or burning your TV dinner.

 “Unfortunate incident” does not describe what happened on Oct. 7, 1998, nor does “killing in the commitment of a robbery.”

Had Henderson and McKinney only wanted to rob Matthew Shepard, they could have taken Shepard’s money in the parking lot of the Fireside Lounge and then taken off.

That is not what happened.

What happened is Henderson and McKinney targeted Shepard in the bar and lured him into a truck, where they robbed him of $30 and repeatedly beat him with a .357-caliber Magnum pistol.

The beating continued as they drove to the remote outskirts of Laramie. The truck stopped. Henderson tied Shepard to a wooden buck fence and McKinney continued to bring down the gun, striking Shepard again and again and again. Eighteen agains, at least.

The assailants left Shepard tied to the fence, where a bicyclist came across him about 18 hours later. Shepard died Oct. 12, 1998, in a Colorado hospital.

Henderson and McKinney robbed Shepard — taking his money, his wallet and his shoes — but much more happened that night than a robbery, than a killing in commitment of a robbery, than an unfortunate incident.

“Unfortunate incident” does not describe two men admitting that they decided to target another man for their crime because he was gay.

“Unfortunate incident” does not describe a man striking another man, tied to a fence, unable to flee, unable to fight back, 18 times with a hefty handgun, but hate killing describes what happened.
And you know Virginia, “unfortunate incident” does not even accurately describe a clearly uninformed person being re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Virginia, not even your floor speech — in which you did not know the correct name of the measure you were opposing — was simply an unfortunate incident.

But yes, Virginia, you might say you are a victim of a con, not one perpetrated by those enraged by the killing of Matthew Shepard, but by those who distort, manipulate or hide the facts to suggest that hate did not drive Matthew Shepard’s killers.