Roy Ashburn Says He's Sorry . . . Sort Of

First, we have California State Senator Roy Ashburn arrested for DUI, after leavng a gay bar with an unidentified passenger in the car. Then we have Ashburn, known for being openly hostile to queer issues and voting against them at every opportunity, announcing "I'm Gay." Now, we have Ashburn saying in an interview at Bakersfield.com, said with respect to his horrendous voting record on anything related to gay rights "I'm sorry for that."

Roy, after his arrest and public discussion regarding his not-for-the-first time appearance at a gay nightclub, outed himself to friend and talk radio host Inga Barks, announcing "I am gay." Regarding his voting record, in that interview, Ashburn said

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.

That's so dishonest, on every level, that it's not even subtle enough to be called a rationalization. It is an ethical absurdity. The truth of the matter is that he voted against his conscience in an effort to hide his sexual orientation, while, at the same time, exploiting the queer community socially and sexually. Keep in mind that Ashburn not only voted in ways that are hostile towards human rights for queer folk, he was a prime mover at anti-queer rights rallies.

In his interview with Bakersfield.com Ashburn also addresses his voting record:

In the past, I didn't want to even vote on a gay rights bill because I didn't want to bring the spotlight on myself since I had a big secret to keep . . . Most of the time I would leave the chamber and come back to vote no. I didn't even know what was in the bills."

He didn't even know what was in the bills. I had some sympathy, at first, for Ashburn; I know his actions were driven by self-loathing. I've now lost all sympathy. His actions have completely changed my feelings about the question of outing a queer politician. I think if they're voting against queer rights like domestic partnership, medical rights, DADT, or supporting DOMA, and exploiting the queer community socially under the assumption that they can exploit us and deny us, then we should out them.

I think is is precisely politicians like Ashburn that led filmmaker Kirby Dicky to make the movie Outrage. I note that this past week, Ashburn was the only Republican senator to vote in support of a Senate resolution to allow self-described gay and lesbian members of the armed forces to serve in the military, and he also voted against a bill (SB 906) that could asserted clergy would not be legally required to perform a civil marriage that was contrary to their faith. Ashburn spoke publicly on the Senate floor acknowledging his own sexual orientation and discussed his opposition to the bill because the bill used the phrase "civil union," and his concerns that the language of the bill could cause problems.

I'm glad to see that his personal reforms are affecting his voting record. I know that Roy Ashburn's self-loathing, and constantly living a lie were driving Ashburn's problems with alcohol, and I'm glad that he's working on that as well.