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I’ll grant supporters of hate crimes legislation one thing: they certainly understand the tactical advantage of being hateful when accusing others of hate. This weekend, after the Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Bill, I posted several articles on Facebook and my blog questioning the claim that Matthew Shepard was murdered solely because he was gay. Although the media and gay rights activists treat it as conventional wisdom, this claim has always been in dispute. Shepard’s murderers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, admitted from the start that they were on a drug binge at the time of the...

The United States Senate approved an amendment yesterday adding "hate crimes" legislation to the annual Defense Authorization bill, which would add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the list of federally-protected classes. The Senate voted 63 - 28 to attach S.909, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (MSHCPA), to the $680 billion defense bill meant to support US troops fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada favored attaching the hotly-debated bill as an amendment, instead of putting it forward as a stand-alone bill, in hopes of easing its passage, but his tactic...

Senate passage of hate-crimes bill wins plaudits By Eric Fingerhut · July 17, 2009 Jewish groups are hailing the Senate's passage of legislation expanding federal involvement in hate crimes. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and B'nai B'rith International have all released statements today praising the vote attaching the hate-crimes bill to the defense authorization bill. "Bias-motivated crimes have terrorized families and communities for far too long," said RAC director Rabbi David Saperstein. "The Senate’s vote for the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act is a celebration of tolerance and respect and will give...

WASHINGTON -- A day after Arizona Sen. John McCain forged an unusual bipartisan alliance with the White House on cutting $1.75 billion in increased spending for the F-22 jet fighter, congressional Democratic leaders pressured lawmakers to drop the matter to clear the way for a hate crimes provision in the defense spending measure. The move, backed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sparked heated debate on the Senate floor as McCain unsuccessfully sought to remove the hate crimes amendment, known as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, from the broader defense spending measure on the grounds that the...

Innocent-seeming questionnaires, tests, and surveys are increasingly being disseminated by government officials so that they have complete histories on every citizen. At this writing, Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx of North Carolina is busy apologizing for her politically incorrect gaffe in arguing against legislation that would expand federal hate-crime laws to include sexual orientation. She pointed to the infamous Matthew Shepard case as a “hoax” inasmuch as Shepard’s killers appeared to have been interested in drugs, not sexual-identity issues. Were Foxx a teenager today, she would be spared the necessity of balancing her conservative views on sexuality against the left’s Orwellian...

A Republican lawmaker has enraged supporters of "hate crimes" legislation for suggesting that the horrible murder of Matthew Shepard was not motivated by anti-homosexual bigotry. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) drew the ire of homosexual activists and other supporters of hate crimes legislation last week when she suggested that the tragic 1998 murder of college student Matthew Shepard was not a hate crime. "We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay," Foxx said on the House floor. "The bill was named for him -- the hate crimes bill was...

Democrats are making it illegal to think certain things. The House of Representatives passed legislation yesterday that extends federal so-called hate-crimes laws to include sexual orientation. This is a move to provide special status for specific groups. It is also unnecessary. If a miscreant kills or rapes somebody, he should be prosecuted for murder or rape. What he might have been thinking is beside the point. Hate-crimes legislation obscures the fact that the underlying crime is already prosecutable under existing laws. The bill is named after Matthew Shepard, a homosexual who was beaten to death near Laramie, Wyo., in 1998....

For once, I actually agree with Olbermann. Rep. Foxx should indeed apologize. Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten, tortured and murdered in Wyoming. His story is portrayed in the play and film "The Laramie Project". Personally, I disagree with "hate crime" legislation because all crime can be considered "hateful". Does it really matter why someone is murdered? Murder is by definition a "hate crime". Is there really any need to complicate the laws? That said, Rep. Foxx's comments are truly "despicable", insensitive and shameful.

Let me preface this by admitting I may be somewhat old fashioned here, but I don't believe sexuality should be taught in schools, especially when injected with the liberal interpretation of "tolerance". Be it hetero, homo, bi, or trans, aren't there more pressing scholastic topics that should be covered more in depth, like mathematics, English, and science? Apparently not. "'The Laramie Project' is being performed this weekend at Acton-Boxborough High School. It presents a message to its audience that Christians with traditional moral values toward homosexuality are hateful, bigoted, and likely murderers. It's pretty chilling stuff if you're a Christian...

Gay-rights activists are planning to protest the school district's decision to cancel a play. "The Laramie Project" is the true story about the murder of Matthew Shepard. The homosexual University of Wyoming student was beaten to death in 1998. Drama coach Bob Angelini told The Asbury Park Press homophobia and fear led Principal Julia Davidow  to reject the play. It was set to be performed in the high school in November. School Superintendent Thomas M. Pagano told the newspaper he stands by the principal. However, the superintendent conceded he may be wrong and the board has the authority to override the...

Some say it's a shame that Southridge won't perform the work about a gay man BEAVERTON -- Southridge High School's principal has stopped production of a controversial play due to profanities and sexual content. But members of the theater community say "The Laramie Project" is under attack because it features a character who is gay. "Southridge has prided itself on being diverse," said Jason Kniss, a 2005 Southridge graduate. "And if the school district and principal were to take this out, it would conflict with the founding principles there." The play chronicles the true story of 21-year-old gay college student...

Alliances of gay and straight battle bigotry in high schools Sunday, April 10, 2005 BY CATHERINE JUN Star-Ledger Staff [Westfield, NJ] -- Gay jokes by his high school classmates always troubled Rob Santucci. But when another student said "all gays should be put on a raft and exiled," he decided to take action. Santucci, a senior at Voorhees Regional High School in Hunterdon County, founded a gay-straight alliance group at his school in September called Students Making Advancements for Respect and Tolerance, or SMART. ...While common on college campuses, gay-straight alliances at high schools are growing in number, according Joshua...

Students perform play based on hate crime By NAOMI L. JENKINS Bucks County Courier Times Middletown - Matthew Shepard, 21, had been a University of Wyoming student for only a few months when he was the victim of a hate crime in 1998. Few in the town of Laramie knew him as well as his former roommate and good friend Romaine Patterson. The two previously lived together in Denver. She talked publicly about Shepard, who was gay, for three minutes at a vigil the day after he died - five days after the attack. "Once I got up and spoke...

You know there must be something happening when the New York Times praises ABC News for running "an intellectually brave episode" of the "20/20" show that has angered the homosexual lobby. That means the Times found it convincing, and so did we. In the November 27 show, "20/20" uncovered the truth about the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, widely depicted as a hate crime because he was a homosexual. Almost everything we were told about this murder at the time by ABC, the Times and every other major news organization was false.

"What [Henderson and McKinney] did to Matt was way beyond meth rage," said O'Malley. "I just don't believe it." Last Friday, ABC aired a much-anticipated edition of "20/20" titled "A Murder in Laramie: The Mystery and the Myth" that claimed to re-examine the case and put forth new evidence surrounding the murder. The producers of "20/20" and its host, Elizabeth Vargas, suggested that Shepard was not murdered because he was gay, but because of drugs - specifically methamphetamine - and money. Those closest to the case said they were stunned and sickened by ABC's report, and claimed "20/20" deliberately massaged...

Focus on the Family's asks for apology after Shepard murder revisted -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: December 11, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Prompted by a TV news investigation questioning whether Matthew Shepard's murder was an "anti-gay hate crime," the traditional-values group Focus on the Family asked NBC News to apologize for suggesting Bible believers were responsible for creating the "climate" in which the attack took place. But NBC defended "Today Show" host Katie Couric for her questions in an an Oct. 12, 1998, interview with the then-governor of Wyoming, where the attack took place.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- In their first public interview since attacking gay college student Matthew Shepard, his killers said they were motivated not by homophobia, but the prospect of robbery to fuel a methamphetamine binge. "He was pretty well-dressed, had a wallet full of money," Aaron McKinney said of meeting Shepard at a Laramie bar in October 1998. "All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him. ... Seemed like a good idea at the time." The interviews air Friday on ABC's "20/20." The robbery got out of hand, said McKinney and his buddy, Russell Henderson, and...

ABC 20/20 Agrees: Matthew Shepard Murdered During Robbery, Not Hate Crime The 1998 Matthew Shepard murder, portrayed as a hate crime because Shepard was homosexual, was in fact a bungled burglary and not motivated by hate, according to a new ABC 20/20 investigation, which confirms a MassNews exclusive published at the time. However, ABC did not reveal that this legend was begun by Pinch Sulzberger (using the power of both the New York Times and the Boston Globe which he had just inherited) to begin his plan of imposing homosexual “marriage” across the entire nation, beginning in Massachusetts. According to...

ABC is preparing a major investigation of the Matthew Shepard gay-bashing murder that contends it may not have been a hate crime — but a mugging gone wrong. Friends and family of Shepard — who became a national symbol of the senseless violence against gays — as well as gay activists are upset about the report, scheduled to air on "20/20" later this month. [snip] In a press release promoting the show, ABC promised "surprising revelations, including Laramie's underground world of methamphetamine use that may have contributed to the crime and whether or not Shepard knew his killers." "ABC...

Henderson denied relief Attorney Tim Newcomb could ask Supreme Court to review the case By Juliette Rule rep9@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Russell Henderson has been denied his petition for post-conviction relief, and his attorney won't be allowed to amend that petition, which he filed in April. That decision handed down by Albany County District Judge Jeffrey Donnell favors the state but is a blow to the case presented by Laramie attorney Tim Newcomb. He advocated to restore the rights he said were lost by the man serving two consecutive life sentences for his role in the...