I can't say with certainty whether anti-gay Sen. Sam Brownback was in fact making an anti-gay crack when he said, in discussing gay marriage, "You look at the social impact of the countries that have engaged in homosexual marriage. You'll know 'em by their fruits," quoting (after a fashion) Matthew 7:16.
There's plenty to castigate Brownback for (Sweden doesn't even provide gays with full marriage equality) without going overboard over an ambiguous comment. But that's exactly the trap HRC fell into, with this heated response, saying Brownback's "derogatory use of 'fruits' sinks below decency." Of course, HRC is merely (as always) playing to its fundraising base, not trying to sway the wider public, and certainly not reaching out to conservative Christians who might be more familiar with biblical quotations as a part of political discourse-and thus just as likely to give Brownback a pass on the quote as gay activists were to insist it was an outright slur.
More: Would Howard Dean recognize the New
Testament if it got up and introduced itself to him? Apparently
not.
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