California State Sen. Roy Ashburn Comes Out of the Closet

The Republican comes clean to his constituents — and to himself.

With three little words California Republican state Senator Roy Ashburn stopped the speculation and set the record straight.

"I am gay," he announced on radio station KERN in Bakersfield, his home constituency.

The direct proclamation came just days after his drunk driving arrest, when it came out — so to speak — that Ashburn was returning home from a gay nightclub.

Ashburn, a divorced father of four, told KERN host Inga Barks that the incident led to "restless nights" and "soul searching," and we have to believe that his public announcement is a healthy step toward self-acceptance.

"Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long," he said right after his big reveal. "But I am gay."

Gay rights groups are slow to embrace Ashburn today since the senator has a long history of voting against gay rights issues.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Ashburn voted against a 2005 bill that would have allowed same-sex marriages in California, and was also among the minority of senators who voted against legislation last year that designated May 22 of each year as Harvey Milk Day.

"It is unfortunate he helped spread the bigotry that forced him to stay in the closet," Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a group supporting gay marriage, told the LA Times.

Yet Kors expressed hope that Ashburn's announcement might change his voting ways — if he remains in office.

"We hope he now takes this opportunity to educate people in his district and throughout the state that his sexual orientation is irrelevant.''

For his part, Ashburn told KERN that he voted against those bills because that's what most of his voters wanted him to do.

"I believe firmly that my responsibility is to my constituents," he said, while also explaining, "I felt with my heart that being gay didn't affect — wouldn't affect — how I did my job."

What are Ashburn's next steps? Time will tell. But in the meantime, we do applaud the senator for coming out of the closet, even if needed a push to do it.

Rainbow flag photo by theodoranian via Wikimedia Commons.