'Reply all': NC state lawmaker sends out mass email calling gays 'fruitloops' and 'queers'
Tue. October 5, 2010 11:43 PM by GoPride.com News Staff
Chicago, IL -
Republican state Rep. Larry Brown of North Carolina knows how to make his opinions on gays known -- he hit "reply all" to a message about a pro-gay award for a fellow lawmaker and said the group was full of "queers" and "fruitloops."
The email he was "replying all" to was to honor House Speaker Joe Hackney, who was receiving an award from gay rights group Equality NC Foundation.
"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 wrote from his personal AOL account. The email was sent to 60 fellow lawmakers.
Brown is up for re-election this fall.
Other Republican lawmakers called it a "poor choice of words."
"It is an insulting term," State Rep. Bill McGee told the Winston-Salem Journal. "I have truthfully never heard Larry express a sentiment like that. I don't 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 don't respond in a way that would include such language."
The email he was "replying all" to was to honor House Speaker Joe Hackney, who was receiving an award from gay rights group Equality NC Foundation.
"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 wrote from his personal AOL account. The email was sent to 60 fellow lawmakers.
Brown is up for re-election this fall.
Other Republican lawmakers called it a "poor choice of words."
"It is an insulting term," State Rep. Bill McGee told the Winston-Salem Journal. "I have truthfully never heard Larry express a sentiment like that. I don't 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 don't respond in a way that would include such language."