A gay rights group is asking people to flood a North Carolina state representative's office with cereal after the Republican referred to gays as "queers" and "fruitloops" in an e-mail to other lawmakers.

Rep. Larry Brown, a Republican, was replying to an e-mail that state House Minority Leader Paul Stam sent to members of his caucus. That message, dated September 27, discussed Democratic House Speaker Joe Hackney receiving an award from Equality NC, according to Hackney spokesman Bill Holmes.

The e-mail string, which Holmes provided to CNN, had about 60 recipients. Brown's response consisted of two sentences: "I hope all the queers are thrilled to see him [Hackney]. I'm sure there will be a couple of legislative fruitloops there in the audience."

Messages left at Brown's legislative office were not returned Thursday morning. The cell number listed on his official state page is not working, and a message sent to Brown's e-mail address was not returned.

Brown is running unopposed for re-election this year.

The e-mail was made public recently when Equality NC Executive Director Ian Palmquist received a copy of it. "I was pretty shocked to see a legislator using that language," Palmquist said.

"Rep. Brown needs to apologize, but we haven't received any contact from him, not a word. It's offensive, but I really don't think he reflects what most North Carolinians think about gay people."

Stam told News 14 North Carolina that Brown's language was inappropriate but that he was not "the speech police."