What Now, Senator Ashburn?

Last week, California state senator Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, was arrested on suspicion of DUI. He had reportedly left a Sacramento gay nightclub, Faces, in a state-owned vehicle, and had another man inside. The man was not a state employee.

Today, on Bakersfield's KERN radio, Ashburn came out as a gay man. This is interesting, given that he has consistently voted against gay rights over his 14 years in state politics- eight in the California senate, and six in the state assembly . Ashburn told KERN's Inga Barks that he voted the way his constituents wanted him to vote, and the votes never reflected his own views. Ashburn serves in the largely conservative 18th Senate district, which includes Kern and san Bernardino counties (just outside Los Angeles). He's term limited, and Ashburn himself has mentioned that he will not run for any further public office.






The large question is  this: will he embraced the very people he vilified- the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBTQ) community- or will he be shunned? Yes, he's slowly embracing his homosexuality, and to be sure on how I feel about this, he has my support in his efforts. His constituents, on the other hand, may not be so supportive. First off, he's a married man with four children, and i pretty much know how they're taking the news. He believes himself a devout Christian, which means that his fellow parishioners are either praying for him, or taking steps to excommunicate him. Either way, you have what is essentially a volatile situation. I'm very interested in how the intervening period will play out, but whichever way this goes, senator Ashburn will likely learn from this, and become a better person.

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