Anti-Gay Lawmaker Roy Ashburn Comes Out

Anti-gay Republican California State Senator Roy Ashburn, arrested on suspicion of DUI after leaving a Sacramento gay bar last week, came out as gay in a radio interview earlier today.

Ashburn told KERN radio:

Well, I am gay … Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long. But I am gay, but it is something that is personal. And I don’t believe — I felt with my heart — that being gay did not affect, wouldn’t affect how I do my job. Again, what happened through my own actions the other night changed all that.

He continued, explaining his virulently anti-gay voting record:

My votes reflect the wishes of the people in my district. And I have always felt that my faith and allegiance was to the people there in the district, my constituents. And so as each of these individuals measures came before the legislature, I cast ‘No’ votes, usually ‘No’ votes, because the measures were almost always about acknowledging rights or assigning identification to homosexual persons.

Inga [Banks, radio show host]: Did you agree with those votes?

Ashburn: I felt my duty — and I still feel this way — is to represent my constituents. I cherish the fact that we have a remarkable system of government, and that system of government provides for representatives elected by the people to go to the legislative bodies, whether it be Washington, D.C., or Sacramento, and to cast votes on behalf of the people, not my own point of view not my own internal conflict, certainly to use my best judgment. but to vote as my constituents would have me vote. There’s never been a doubt in my mind on the position of the majority, the vast majority of people in my district — the 18th senatorial district — on these different issues. And so I voted as I felt I should on behalf of the people who elected me.

So, it is clear. Ashburn, a closeted homosexual, voted against his own interests and those of people he supposedly cares for, voted in favor of discrimination against those people, and lied to his constituents — people who, his words suggest, would never have elected an openly-gay man to represent them — in order to secure re-election.

His nightmares are now coming true, as conservatives blast him. Randy Thommason of SaveCalifornia, demanding Ashburn’s immediate resignation, cries:

His lying, cheating ways have boiled over and the public’s trust has been shattered . . .

He vowed to be faithful to his wife, then broke his vows when he chose homosexuality over his marriage . . .

He repeatedly lied to people who asked him to honestly tell them whether he was living the homosexual lifestyle . . .

Now that he has openly identified with the ‘LGBT’ lifestyle, Ashburn is dramatically out of step with his constituents, has lost their trust, and is in danger of voting against their conservative family values . . .

I can’t even begin to list the things wrong with those statements.

Ashburn has decided not to seek re-election. Surprise, surprise. I imagine he’ll quietly fade into the background and hide like the coward he is.

Related articles:

1. Anti-Gay Lawmaker Arrested for DUI After Leaving Gay Club
2. Alabama lawmaker wants Ten Commandments displays to stop people “from going berserk or killing folks”
3. Islamic Lawmaker: Banning child marriage un-Islamic, violates men's rights
4. Iowa lawmaker pitches fit over gay tent-pitchers
5. Minnesota GOP’s would-be Governor: Anti-gay, anti-Semitic group “good people”

Mike Daniels is co-editor of Secular News Daily.

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