Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Conservative GOP senator: 'I am gay'

|
|
 
  
Published: March. 8, 2010 at 8:34 PM

BAKERSFIELD, Calif., March 8 (UPI) -- A conservative Republican California state senator who has voted against numerous gay rights measures announced Monday he is homosexual.

Sen. Roy Ashburn disclosed his sexuality during a radio interview with KERN, Bakersfield, during which he said he had spent "restless nights" and gone through "soul searching" since he was arrested last week on drunken driving charges. There were published reports Ashburn had just left a gay club in Sacramento when he was arrested.

Ashburn, who has been on personal leave from the California Senate since his arrest March 3, said Monday disclosing his homosexuality "are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long."

"But I am gay. But it is something that is personal and … . I felt with my heart that being gay didn't affect -- wouldn't affect -- how I did my job."

Ashburn said he made his "personal life public" as a result of his behavior, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, which advocates for same-sex marriage, said it was "unfortunate (Ashburn) helped spread the bigotry that forced him to stay in the closet," the newspaper reported.

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

© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade Proposition 8 ruled unconstitutional in California
AARP Movies for Grownups Award Gala The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Snowy Owls make appearance in Washington
Additional U.S. News Stories
1 of 15
Rose McGowan at The Heart Truth's Red Dress Fall 2012 Collections at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week In New York
View Caption
fark
The most amazing portraits created with packing tape you will see all day
According to the United States Census Bureau, when a child is being watched by his father, that's...
You put a guy named Skeeter in charge of your charitable fund, of COURSE he's going to blow your...
Subby, for one, welcomes our new Pennsylvania Purple Squirrel overlords (with purple-pic)
The toughest place to be a train driver
"Can a man be 'slut-shamed?'" Well...yeah