Wednesday, January 12, 2011

NC State Rep. Larry Brown: Those Perverts Deserve It

I took note yesterday how the Commonwealth of Virginia was freezing its AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and conjectured that perhaps the Virginia GOP's real motivation was a desire that gays simply die off. Never mind that a huge segment of HIV+ individuals are African-Americans or members of other minority groups. Well, across the border in North Carolina state Rep. Larry Brown (R-Forsyth), who is pictured at left, has pretty much confirmed that my analysis of the thinking behind the ADAP freeze - at least insofar as it applies to gays. And I suspect other minorities that Mr. Brown and his GOP brethren dislike. The Winston-Salem Journal has coverage of Brown's naked bigotry and prejudice. Here are some highlights of Brown's batshitery:
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State Rep. Larry Brown said during a discussion of his legislative goals for the year that the government should not spend money to treat adults with HIV or AIDS who "caused it by the way they live."
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He began by discussing his support for a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to a union between one man and one woman, which would forestall any efforts to allow same-sex marriage.

He went on to say he thinks the government shouldn't spend money to treat HIV among people "living in perverted lifestyles." "I'm not opposed to helping a child born with HIV or something, but I don't condone spending taxpayers' money to help people living in perverted lifestyles," said Brown, who ran unopposed in the November election to win a fourth term.
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Brown wouldn't say Tuesday what he considers perverted, but did say that adults who get HIV through sexual behavior or drugs would be among those who should not be treated at government expense.
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Katherine Foster, the president of AIDS Care Service in Winston-Salem, called Brown's remarks "fiscally and socially irresponsible." She said the remarks highlight "his ignorance on this major public-health issue."
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"What Representative Brown can't seem to get through his mind is that HIV disease … affects individuals regardless of age, race and sexual orientation," Foster said. "Without funding for HIV, the disease is at risk for reaching pandemic levels, just as it has in countries that do not provide government funding for HIV-AIDS."
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Of course, given the track record of anti-gay members of the GOP, one has to wonder when Brown will be picked up for soliciting gay sex in a park or some rest room somewhere.

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