Catholic Senator Refers to Gays as "Fruits"

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) manipulated and abused scripture in order to refer to Swedish gays and lesbians as "fruits." Here is the unaltered, in context quote from the interview:

It doesn't bother Brownback that most Bible scholars challenge the idea that Scripture opposes homosexuality. "It's pretty clear," he says, "what we know in our hearts." This, he says, is "natural law," derived from observation of the world, but the logic is circular: It's wrong because he observes himself believing it's wrong.

He has worldly proof, too. "You look at the social impact of the countries that have engaged in homosexual marriage." He shakes his head in sorrow, thinking of Sweden, which Christian conservatives believe has been made by "social engineering" into an outer ring of hell. "You'll know 'em by their fruits," Brownback says. He pauses, and an awkward silence fills the room. He was citing scripture -- Matthew 7:16 -- but he just called gay Swedes "fruits."

I call upon all Catholics, particularly Sen. Brownback's supporters at Catholics in the Public Square, to join me in condemning Sen. Brownback's bigoted remarks and in demanding both an apology for and a retraction of those remarks. I also call upon all Catholics to think long and hard about supporting the bid for the presidency that Sen. Brownback is sure to make -- and ask yourselves, reading the article carefully and paying close attention to his words, if he is even really Catholic. I do not see a Catholic in his words, but a fundamentalist pseudo-Christian hiding behind the relative normalcy of the Catholic Church.

If you would like to e-mail Sen. Brownback with your own thoughts on his bigoted remarks, you can do so here.

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See Also: HRC president Joe Solmonese's press release.