Who is he? you ask. The dipshit California state senator who decided to remain in the closet his entire adult life and vote against his own self interests.
Yeah, yeah. Tough being gay and in the closet, some of our friends have said. We believe that. We also note that none of the people telling us that were directly in a position to vote against his/her own self interests — and an entire community’s — the way Ashburn is.
So he was getting a little man-ass last week, got drunk, got caught, and now he’s out. And why isn’t it a cause to rejoice? Because he’s term-limited. The public revelation means nothing. He has just a year left in his term to change some of the terrible pieces of legislation he voted for over the years.
More recently, according to Project Vote Smart, a nonpartisan organization that tracks legislators’ voting records, Ashburn voted against:
• Legislation “that recognizes all same-sex marriages contracted outside of California prior to Nov. 5, 2008, and specifies that same-sex marriages contracted on or after Nov. 5, 2008, are guaranteed the same rights…and are subject to the same responsibilities…as are granted and imposed upon all spouses, with a sole exception of the designation of the term “marriage.”
• A bill proclaiming May 22 Harvey Milk Day and encouraging public schools to educate students on his life and contributions to the state. Milk was one of the first openly gay men elected to public office in California — elected to the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors in 1977.
• A resolution declaring the Senate’s opposition to Proposition 8, saying it would be an “improper revision” of the state constitution.
From TPM:
“I’m gay,” State Senator Roy Ashburn told a radio host from his central California district in an interview this morning. “Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long.”
Ashburn, a divorced father of four, said that his many votes against gay rights were efforts to represent the conservative views of his constituents.
Poor excuse, Ashburn. Poor excuse.
poor excuse for a human being, you mean …