US anti-gay rights senator Roy Ashburn comes out as gay

US anti-gay rights senator Roy Ashburn comes out as gay

news.bbc.co.uk

A US Republican senator who has regularly voted against gay rights measures during his 14 years in office has confessed that he is gay.

Roy Ashburn came out in an interview with a radio station in California, the state he represents.

He has been on leave from the Senate since his arrest last week on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Mr Ashburn said his votes reflected the way his constituents wanted him to vote, not his own "internal conflict".

"I am gay... those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long," the 55-year-old father-of-four told KERN radi

(visit the link for the full news article)

How does ATS feel about this? A closet gay senator who has voted against gay rights at every turn is certainly a unique situation that needs to be looked into further. How many closet cases have voted against equal rights for gays?
Sexual orientation shouldn't even be an issue any more. It beggars belief that people can't be open with each other about this and have a mature debate without resorting to scripture.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

This just proves that politicians are liars!!!

Originally posted by scubagravy
This just proves that politicians are liars!!!

No, it proves that some, few, politicians listen to their constituents. He listened to the voices in his state against his own wishes. THAT should be applauded.

reply to post by MacDonagh

How does ATS feel about this?

If he's genuinely been voting against gay rights measures for the reason he gives: to accurately pursue the desires of his constituents...that seems a respectable position to me.

How many closet cases have voted against equal rights for gays?

Difficult to know. But like you, I'm more interested in the motivations than the numbers. A desire to honestly represent the will of voters seems very respectable. Fear and self loathing somewhat less so.

It beggars belief that people can't be open with each other
about this and have a mature debate without resorting to scripture.

Ok, but that works both ways. I can't think of many times I've spoken against gay rights and not received insults and non-sequitors for it.

Hmm a Rep Senator from California... Now he is on the Desert side of Southern California, (18th District) so perhaps more older retired community, also a lot of Mexican immigrants and Native Americans. Those are his constituents, maybe he is correct in saying he voted the way his constituents wanted him to.

Still has to be a tough call, I imagine he became republican before the religious zealots became their go to people, instead of fiscal conservatism.

Still, you know your gay and you go with a party that does not share your views. OR.. perhaps it was his way of punishing himself for what he believed was wrong. A head scratcher..

reply to post by MacDonagh


This kind of thing happens too often. Someone is against an issue for so long that they become part of what they tried to prevent. They seem to become hypocrites.

I find it interesting that he is conservative. If he remains conservative, some in the gay community might start voting republican. Anyone know if he is receiving any kind of backlash from the other republicans?

reply to post by ShiftTrio


That's the problem with politics in America today. Everything pigeon holed into small boxes. Maybe this guy shares most of his political views with Republicans. He just happens to be gay.

I live in his district and so what hes gay but i will still vote for him.

He's done a lot for the people in his district. and supported the military bases and military troops and families here.
he has also brought a lot of jobs to this district.

If you think hes the only closet gay/bi in government there are a lot that you don't know about.
They are every where.

Control the opposition and lead them, and you control them all.

This reminds me of the movie Surrogates with Bruce Willis where the genius who created the artificial world ALSO was the same guy who controlled the rebels fighting against the artificial world and people.

It's disgusting, and he should be kicked out of office and fined for lying and being a sac of crap.

reply to post by Emerald The Paradigm

he should be kicked out of office and fined for lying

What did he lie about? Not volunteering information is not lying. Casting votes in the manner desired by those you represent is not lying.

This isn't exactly ground-breaking news. It's called Irony.

This is just like the politician who preaches road safety and gets charged with speeding and reckless driving. Or the politician that denounces prostitution and is caught paying Call Girls for their services. Or the politician who supports banning violent video games and then is found out to be one of the highest ranking players of Counter-Strike.

Unfortunately, I can see this example being exploited by Pro-Gay Rights activists to reinforce the idea that those who oppose Gay Rights are really closet homosexuals. Well you must be gay because that senator that had an anti-gay stance turned out to be gay when his views were questioned!

Originally posted by intrepid
reply to post by ShiftTrio

 

Maybe this guy shares most of his political views with Republicans. He just happens to be gay.

When did the elected republicans go back to republican values? lol Like I said maybe he was a republican before the religious right took over. That I can believe.

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by scubagravy
This just proves that politicians are liars!!!

No, it proves that some, few, politicians listen to their constituents. He listened to the voices in his state against his own wishes. THAT should be applauded.

No offense Intrepid, but it does show that this particular senator lied at least to get the votes needed to be a senator in the first place. Correct?

Originally posted by Nutter
No offense Intrepid, but it does show that this particular senator lied at least to get the votes needed to be a senator in the first place. Correct?

How did he lie?

This guy *is* a liar.

Why? because you are a representative of your people. They vote on the person, his views, his attitude, and his life in general that best represents your district.

OK, Saturn...but maybe all the republicans in his district are closet homosexuals also...

Fine, but he did not present this rather critical side to himself to his constituants. If they were voting on just someone whom can vote a certain way, they could have voted in a 12 year old that can simply vote yes or no without careing what the package looked like...matter of fact, the smart thing would be to simply elect the most attractive woman in so she can shift people to vote as she does...

people vote in the person on matters of substance...and yes, sexual orientation is sort of critical to admit. Why is there never outward satanist transexual wildly liberal people representing conservatives? or outspoken KKK members representing liberals...well you know what..there may be, but they are keeping it hidden because they know they wouldn't be voted in.

Originally posted by intrepid
How did he lie?

If his district constituents want him to vote against gay rights, then it is not a far stretch to assume that those constituents would not have voted him in in the first place had they known him to be gay. Hence he lied and covered up his sexuality to receive votes.

If that is not lying, then I'm not sure what is.

Originally posted by Nutter

Originally posted by intrepid
How did he lie?

If his district constituents want him to vote against gay rights, then it is not a far stretch to assume that those constituents would not have voted him in in the first place had they known him to be gay. Hence he lied and covered up his sexuality to receive votes.

If that is not lying, then I'm not sure what is.

I don't know of any laws that state that a potential senator has to disclose his sexual orientation. Was he asked if he was gay and said he wasn't? That would be lying.

Originally posted by intrepid
I don't know of any laws that state that a potential senator has to disclose his sexual orientation. Was he asked if he was gay and said he wasn't? That would be lying.

Telling a lie is not illegal either. I thought we were talking about him lying. NOT about him doing anything illegal?

reply to post by intrepid


Let me ask you.

If a senator was elected by a mostly african american population, and then it turns out that he is a closet KKK member, would you consider him to be a liar? Even if he voted yes for all black issues?