Another elected Republican official has come stumbling out of the closet against his own will. This time it’s California state senator Roy Ashburn. Here’s the story. He was arrested for drunk driving, but what’s really done him in is the discovery of where he was coming from:  a gay bar in Sacramento. Faced with the facts, he went public about his sexuality on a Bakersfield radio station this morning. I imagine the local response was akin to the response to the crowd of GOP voters on last night’s episode of “Big Love” when Bill Henrickson came out as a polygamist.

As the Times says:

The episode, widely discussed on Internet blogs, in newspapers and on TV, spurred charges of hypocrisy against the senator from gay-rights activists who noted that Ashburn, a divorced father of four, had voted several times against legislation favoring gays and lesbians. On Sept. 1, 2005, Ashburn voted against a bill that would have allowed same-sex marriages in California. The bill was later vetoed by the governor. Ashburn also was among the minority in voting against legislation last year that designated May 22 of each year as Harvey Milk Day.

Ashburn’s defense against this charge? That his votes reflected the will of his constituents. So much for leadership. I also wonder, when they were voting for him, if they intended to vote for driving drunk and telling lies.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 4:01 pm and is filed under Politics, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.