U.S. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx. Bigot. An embarrassment to North Carolina. There's not much else left to say except that the common sense people are vastly outnumbered by the ignorant, low-info, constituents in her district, and that's why she continues to be re-elected. QNotes:

Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, who represents North Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District, attached her amendment to the Department of Defense’s budget for the 2012 fiscal year. Filed with Indiana Rep. Dan Burton, the amendment would require enforcement of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and ban any use of funds for “benefits, such as housing, education, medical services, transportation, etc., for same-sex couples on the same basis as opposite-sex married couples,” according to a fact sheet. The Obama Administration has stopped defending DOMA in federal court, saying the law is unconstitutional.

And yes, the House today, in a useless vote, reaffirmed the bigoted DOMA.

Lawmakers voted in favor of the amendment, which was introduced by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), by a margin of 248-175 as part of the fiscal year 2012 defense appropriations bill. The amendment would prohibit the use of Pentagon funds in contravention to the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

…Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, rebuked the House in a statement for adopting the anti-gay measure as part of the defense appropriations bill. “This amendment is completely unnecessary and only serves to cloud the debate over ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal by pointlessly injecting the issue of marriage equality into the conversation,” Solmonese said.

“Since Pentagon officials have made it clear that they are bound by DOMA like every other federal agency, it’s puzzling why Rep. Foxx would question whether our military leaders understand this point.”

Equality NC:

“This targeting of gay servicemembers is deplorable.” said Alex Miller, Interim Executive Director for Equality NC and veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry. “It is un-American, un-democratic and most certainly unjust. Representing a state with a large population of military personnel of all sexual orientations and gender identities, we stand in strong solidarity with these men and women and condemn this attempt at marginalization.”

You might recall that she's the horrorshow who declared that Matthew Shepard's murder wasn't a hate crime — Foxx said it was a “hoax.”

Rep. Foxx: “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. It wasn't because he was gay. The bill was named for him, the hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's, it's really a hoax, that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”[House Floor Speech, 4/29/09] NOTE: The roll call is below the fold.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll516.xml

 FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 516

(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
      H R 2219      RECORDED VOTE      7-Jul-2011      6:22 PM
      AUTHOR(S):  Foxx of North Carolina Amendment No. 61
      QUESTION:  On Agreeing to the Amendment

—- AYES    248 —

—- NOES    175 —

—- NOT VOTING    8 —