Sacramento LGBT community “outted” through Ashburn Incident

The Ashburn “scandal” is still the talk of the political world and Sacramento’s gay community finds ourselves again on a national stage. Here’s some links to articles about the incident and it’s aftermath.

As its name spread through the national media this week, the midtown nightclub Faces was identified most often as “a Sacramento gay bar.” To people who frequent the place, the description is too limited. The 25-year-old, 17,000-square-foot focal point of the gay-centric neighborhood at 20th and K where people typically move among establishments on any given night, Faces might be described more aptly as a gay bedrock.

Five days after Republican California Senator Roy Ashburn admitted he’s gay, the nation’s two largest gay GOP groups have kept mostly silent on the issue, neither willing to call out the senator on his long anti-gay record. Log Cabin Republicans Spokesman Charles Moran appeared on Oakland, California-based Fox affiliate KTVU Wednesday night to voice the group’s reaction, but failed to condemn Ashburn’s career-long hypocrisy.

Reaction to Repugnican California state Sen. Roy Ashburn’s having come out of the closet yesterday — involuntarily, as the result of chatter after he was arrested on March 3 for DUI after having driven away from a Sacramento gay bar — has been mixed.

Another conservative with a record of voting against LGBT rights comes out. California State Senator Roy Ashburn told a Bakersfield radio station this week that he is gay. But he only made the announcement days after he had been arrested for driving while intoxicated. Ashburn had been at a Sacramento gay nightclub earlier that evening.

With a history of anti-gay votes who gets caught in a compromising same-sex situation and sees his political career derailed. But there’s a crucial difference: It took Ashburn, a major Bakersfield political figure, less than a week to come out of the closet.

An anti-gay California state senator who has been a “traditional values” activist was arrested on suspicion of driving drunk in Sacramento on March 3 and subsequently outed. Then, five days after his arrest, Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) came out of the closet but said he’ll continue to vote anti-gay.

“We need to preserve traditional values for the future of our children. Children must be raised with morals and principles. As a society we must provide them with a secured and loving environment that allows them to flourish.” Those are the words of Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) from his 2006 press release announcing his support of “traditional marriage.”

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One Response to “Sacramento LGBT community “outted” through Ashburn Incident”

Annonymous says:

May 15, 2010 at 10:01 pm

I met roy in person. Acutally through one of my gay friends. He took us all out to the bars and stuff in san fransisco. Its funny how we need to “preserve traditional values for the future of our children. Children must be raised with morals and principles.” Ok Roy well driving around drunk especially when you are caught and it makes the news big time DOES NOT SHOW MORAL AND PRINCIPLE. So think before you speak sir, and next time call a taxi like we all did in frisco!