State Rep. Larry Brown sent his fellow House Republicans an e-mail last week where he referred to gays as “queers” and “fruitloops.”
Brown was responding to an e-mail House Minority Leader Paul Stam of Apex sent to members of his caucus about House Speaker Joe Hackney getting an award from the Equality NC Foundation, a gay-rights group.
Brown sent his reply to nearly 60 e-mail addresses.
“I hope all the queers are thrilled to see him,” said the message dated Sept. 27. “I am sure there will be a couple legislative fruitloops there in the audience.”
Ian Palmquist, executive director of Equality North Carolina, said Brown should apologize for using anti-gay slurs.
“I think it’s disgusting to see a member of the legislature talking about his own constituents and fellow North Carolinians that way,” Palmquist said. “I would hope that he would apologize and his colleagues would speak out about that kind of bigotry.”
Brown did not return telephone calls today.
Stam said the e-mail was intended to be private and the only people Brown should apologize to are those who got the e-mail and were offended.
“It was not sent to a public group,” Stam said. “There’s a lot of language that is used by public officials in public and private that should not be used. I don’t use that language myself.”
Stam wouldn’t say whether he talked to Brown about the e-mail, or if any other caucus members objected, saying he considered such conversations “internal communications.”
“If any of them want to tell you what they told Larry, that’s fine,” he said.
Stam said he sent a copy of the announcement about Hackney’s award to Republican members because he’s getting it for supporting two bills they opposed – one expanding sex education to include more information about contraceptives, and the another an anti-bullying measure that identifies gay students as potential bully targets.
Brown, the former mayor of Kernersville, is in his third term. He is running for re-election unopposed.
from The Charlortte Observer

AUSTRALIA – An Adelaide woman charged with murdering her husband by setting him alight says she just wanted to “purify his penis”, to end an affair and have him stay with her.
Rajini Narayan, 46, has pleaded not guilty to killing 47-year-old Satish Narayan by pouring petrol on him and setting him on fire as he lay in bed at their Adelaide home in December, 2008.
Giving evidence in the South Australian Supreme Court on Thursday, she said that even though she suspected him of having an affair she still wanted him.
“He was my hero, the man of my life, the love of my life,” she told the court.
“I was going to purify his penis, leave a mark there and he would remain with me. He would be mine.”
But Mr Narayan died in hospital several weeks later with burns to 75 per cent of his body.
The accused said she had snapped, dousing her man’s back with petrol when he called her a fat, dumb bitch.
She also told the court that she had been subjected to domestic violence for most of her 20-year marriage.
She said that sometimes it would occur once a week and at other times, twice a month.
“Sometimes it was just a slap, sometimes a slap and a punch and sometimes some kicking,” Narayan said.
On one occasion in 1990, she went to see a doctor and contacted police after fearing she had suffered broken ribs.
But despite all the abuse, she said she desperately wanted her husband’s love and felt his beatings were only to help her be a better person, to “idolise him”.
The trial continues.
from The Sydney Morning Herald
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A Christian group encouraging gays to change their orientation has decided an event for U.S. high school students is divisive, its president said Wednesday.
Exodus International President Alan Chambers told CNN the organization will no longer serve as a sponsor for the Day of Truth. The day, which began in 2005, coincides with the Day of Silence held since 1996 by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
“All the recent attention to bullying helped us realize that we need to equip kids to live out biblical tolerance and grace while treating their neighbors as they’d like to be treated, whether they agree with them or not,” Chambers said.
About 6,000 high school and middle school students participated in Day of Truth activities this year, wearing T-shirts and handing out cards urging “an honest conversation about the biblical truth for sexuality,” Chambers said.
Candi Cushman, an education analyst for Focus on the Family, said the Day of Silence only presents “one point of view.”
“In contrast to the whole idea of ‘silence,’ Day of Truth has encouraged students to exercise their free speech rights and have an open dialogue while respectfully listening to others,” Cushman said.
from United Press International