Anti-Gay California Lawmaker Announces He's Gay

(Newscore) - A California state senator who consistently voted against gay rights measures since he took office eight years ago confirmed Monday that he is gay, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Republican Sen. Roy Ashburn, who has been on leave from the Senate since he was arrested and charged with DUI last week, said in an interview on KERN radio in Bakersfield, “I’m gay. Those are the words that have been so difficult or me for so long,” the paper said.

Ashburn, a 55-year-old divorced father of four from Bakersfield, was arrested Wednesday after reportedly leaving Faces, a gay nightclub in Sacramento, according to cbs13.com. The station also reported there was a male passenger in the car at the time.

Ashburn said in the radio interview his anti-gay votes were a reflection of what the majority of voters in his conservative district would have wanted.

The Bee said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a gay rights group that sponsors many state bills, called Ashburn's comments about his voting record "a lame excuse."

Kors told the paper, "People elected him to lead. I would be shocked to see if there is any polling that shows that most people in his district believe that anyone should be fired from their job because of their sexual orientation or kicked out of public accommodations because of their sexual orientation. And yet he voted against bills to prevent that."