http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?entry_id=64582&tsp=1A closeted gay Republican state senator who outed himself after a drunk driving arrest apologized for voting against gay rights bills.
"I'm sorry for that," said Roy Ashburn, of Bakersfield, in an interview with the Bakersfield Californian.
Ashburn's secret was exposed in March when he was arrested for drunken driving in Sacramento after leaving a gay nightclub. Days later, he admitted to Kern AM 1180 host Inga Barks, "I am gay." (You can listen to the interview here).
His sexual orientation sparked a debate over his voting record. Ashburn has voted consistently against gay rights bills and was decried as a hypocrite by some. His defenders, however, said his homosexuality wasn't relevant to his political work -- a stance that Ashburn echoed in his "coming out" interview. He told Barks that he was serving the people who elected him:
"Again I believe firmly that my responsibility is to my constituents, and so on each measure that may come before me, I will take a careful look at it and apply that standard: 'How would my constituents vote on this?' 'How would they have me vote on this?' Obviously each of us has differences of opinion on almost every issue but ... when I say that I understand my constituents on these questions I don't think anyone misunderstands what I mean."
Now it appears Ashburn has changed his tune. In a Senate floor speech Thursday, Ashburn voiced his support for a resolution that asks Congress to reverse its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy on gays:
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