Lan Palmquist, executive director of Equality North Carolina, shows some of the 279 packages of Froot Loops the group tried to deliver to Rep. Larry Brown. JIM R. BOUNDS - AP

Charlotte Observer

 By Jay Price

RALEIGH State Rep. Larry Brown wasn't served his multi-colored breakfast lesson in diversity Thursday after all.

A security officer intercepted leaders of a gay-rights group just inside the front door of the state Legislative Building and seized 279 boxes of Froot Loops cereal boxes they were trying to deliver to the Kernersville Republican's office. The group was responding to anti-gay comments Brown made in an e-mail message last month.

In that e-mail, sent to about 60 fellow House Republicans, Brown referred to gay people as "fruitloops" and "queers." After stories about his comments appeared across the state last week, Brown became the butt of a joke on "Saturday Night Live" and was discussed on CNN and on Perez Hilton's widely read celebrity blog.

Brown sent the e-mail in response to a message that House Minority Leader Paul Stam had sent members of his caucus about House Speaker Joe Hackney winning an award from Equality North Carolina foundation, a gay-rights group.

Equality NC, in turn, reacted to Brown's e-mail by building a quick fundraising campaign around it, with a promise to deliver a box of Froot Loops for every donation. It raised about $8,500, said the group's director, Ian Palmquist.

Thursday afternoon, the group tried to follow through on its promise, at least partly: The boxes were empty so as to avoid violating a ban on gifts to legislators. Palmquist said the group wanted not only to be ethical but also to make sure that the actual cereal went to a good cause: a Greensboro group that helps feed people with HIV.

Brown didn't return calls for comment, and he hasn't publically apologized. Stam said last week that because the e-mail was supposed to be private that the only people Brown should apologize to are any among the intended recipients who were offended.

Palmquist said the security guard who took the cereal boxes Thursday promised that they would be delivered to Brown, who, as it turned out, wasn't in his office because the legislature is out of session.

The cereal stunt might be humorous, but Palmquist said the message his group was trying to send is serious, something underlined by the fact that several young gay men across the nation have committed suicide in recent weeks as a result of bullying, harassment and the kind of hostile climate created by words like those used by Brown.

"I hope that Rep. Brown will think about the impact that his words have on young people in our state," Palmquist said. "As a legislator and a member of the education committee, he really sets a tone. Imagine being a teenager in his district in Forsyth or Davidson County, bullied in school, perhaps unsupported at home, and learning that the people's representative of your area is so casually demeaning people just like you."

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