Gay rights groups pounced on a U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx Wednesday after she called the case behind a hate crimes bill "a hoax."

Foxx's comments came on the House floor during debate over the so-called Matthew Shepard bill, named for a 21-year-old gay man murdered in Wyoming in 1998. Supporters say he was the victim of a hate crime, Jim Morrill reports.

The bill would expand a federal hate crimes law to include acts motivated by sexual orientation.

"The Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed," said the Banner Elk Republican. "But we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. The bill was named for him … but it's really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills."

In a statement, Foxx later called her comments "a poor choice of words."

More after the jump.

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John Edwards' gay supporters say that he'll work for equality.

Although the former North Carolina senator has repeatedly said he's "not there yet" in supporting gay marriage, he does have support among the gay community as he heads into tonight's Democratic forum sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Rob Christensen reports.

"The Edwards campaign from day one has worked to cultivate the LGBT community," said Eric Stern, a gay activist from California said during an Edwards campaign teleconference.

He said that Edwards was the first Democrat to release a list of gay supporters, and the first to have a spouse, Elizabeth, support gay marriage. Edwards supports same-sex civil unions.

But Stern said he was also supporting Edwards because of his views on a wide range of issues such as poverty and health care.

Stephen Handwerk, a member of the National Stonewall Democrats board of director, said he was supporting Edwards because of his electability in November.