The family-values California Republican legislator who was reported to have been at a gay club on the night last week that he was arrested for drunk driving has acknowledged he is gay.
“I’m gay,” State Senator Roy Ashburn told a radio host from his central California district in an interview this morning. “Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long.”
Ashburn, a divorced father of four, said that his many votes against gay rights were efforts to represent the conservative views of his constituents.
The openly gay mayor of West Sacramento said last week that he had spotted Ashburn at gay clubs a number of times.
Ashburn had been on leave since last week, but is expected to return today. Thanks to term limits, he is scheduled to leave office at the end of the year.