Newly Out CA Sen. Roy Ashburn May Be Leaving The Dark Side

CA state Sen. Roy Ashburn (R), who was outed earlier this year after being arrested for DUI leaving a Sacramento gay bar, may slowly be seeing the light. Yesterday he voted for one of the two LGBT rights bills put before him and talked about being gay while doing so.

Two months after announcing he was gay, state Sen. Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield discussed his sexuality on the Senate floor and cast votes on two separate gay-rights bills. Ashburn was the only Republican senator to vote in support of allowing openly gay people to serve in the military, but he also voted against a bill that could remove a political obstacle to proposals to legalize same-sex marriage. Ashburn then took the unusual step of publicly explaining his votes on the Senate floor. "I would not have been speaking on a measure dealing with sexual orientation ever prior to the events that have transpired in my life over the last three months,’’ Ashburn told his colleagues. "However, I am no longer willing or able to remain silent on issues that affect sexual orientation and the rights of individuals. And so I am doing something that is quite different and foreign to me, and it’s highly emotional.’’

The resolution supporting the repeal of DADT passed easily. Ashburn's LGBT rights track record was previously a big fat gay goose egg. He will be term-limited out of office this year.