An e-mail sent from state Rep. Larry Browns personal account calls gays and lesbians queers and refers to legislative fruitloops in commentary on an award that Democrat House Speaker Joe Hackney is scheduled to receive from Equality North Carolina.
Equality North Carolina promotes issues of importance to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The group is giving its legislative-leadership award to Hackney at its Equality Gala in November.
Brown, a Kernersville Republican who is running unopposed for re-election, apparently learned about the event in an e-mail sent to Republican legislators by state Rep. Paul Stam, the House minority leader. Stam had forwarded an e-mail about the event.
Browns response, which was sent to Stam, R-Wake, and many other Republican legislators, said: I hope all the queers are thrilled to see him. I am sure there will be a couple legislative fruitloops there in the audience.
Brown said yesterday that he didnt have any comment about the e-mail.
I didnt send you one, he said.
When asked to confirm whether he wrote the e-mail, Brown said, Im not saying I did, and Im not saying I didnt.
Some Republican legislators are calling the language a poor choice of words.
It is a bad choice of language, and I wouldnt have sent it, said state Rep. Bill McGee, R-75th, who lives in Clemmons.
It is an insulting term, McGee said. I have truthfully never heard Larry express a sentiment like that. I dont think I have ever expressed such to anybody. There are all sorts of groups and organizations that do things that I may or may not agree with I dont respond in a way that would include such language.
Ian Palmquist, the executive director of Equality North Carolina, called Browns choice of words unacceptable.
We are really appalled that a legislator would talk about members of his own community, Palmquist said. To use anti-gay slurs in a private e-mail is really unacceptable. We would like to see him apologize to his constituents for using that kind of language.
Stam, asked if he found Browns comment bigoted, said that he doesnt comment on peoples private remarks.
If I spent all my time correcting peoples vulgarities and profanities I wouldnt get anything done, he said.
Hackney said hes interested to see how many Republicans dissociate themselves from Browns remarks. Hackney said the remark also gives you a feel for what North Carolina would be dealing with if Republicans were to gain control of the House.
State Rep. Julia Howard, R-79th, who lives in Mocksville, said she probably would not have said what Brown wrote in the e-mail, but added that people have a right to express their own opinions.
There are always some people out there that are going to make an issue out of something, Howard said.
Whether it is offensive depends on who you are talking to. To some it is offensive, and to some he is probably a hero, she said.
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