Confessions of a Formerly Anti-Gay Politician

Perhaps is HBO is looking for a sequel to their Taxicab Confessions series, they might want to turn the camera on California State Senator Roy Ashburn, and tweak the title to say "Confessions of a Formerly Anti-Gay Politician."

Sen. Ashburn's career in the California legislature was in many parts defined by his hardcore opposition to gay rights legislation. Whether it was marriage or Harvey Milk Day, any piece of legislation that came his way dealing with LGBT rights seemed to get a thumbs down.

And then, in March of this year, Sen. Ashburn was pulled over by police in Sacramento on suspicion that he was drunk behind the wheel. He was, with a blood alcohol level of .14%, at that. But that's not entirely what dominated the headlines the next morning. Instead, it was the fact that Sen. Ashburn was leaving a gay bar in Sacramento when he was arrested, and that he had an unidentified male passenger with him.

Immediately, Sen. Ashburn became part of the "Republican Politicians Against Gay Rights Who Eventually Get Caught Doing Very Gay Things." There's former Rep. Mark Foley, former Sen. Larry Craig, and current Rep. Mark Kirk. And that's not to mention all of the right-leaning pastors and religious leaders who've been involved in some salacious male-on-male scandals in the past few years (Ted Haggard, George Alan Rekers, Alan Downing ... the list goes on).

But what might make Sen. Ashburn different from all of these controversial cats is that instead of running away from his scandal, or blaming his scandal on some internal demons, he seems to be opening up to folks by saying that (1) yes, he's is gay, and (2) he was wrong ... really wrong ... to back anti-gay legislation in the past.

This week Sen. Ashburn wrote a column for gaypolitics.com, where he urged fellow lawmakers in the Republican Party to get behind gay rights. His scandal, he says, woke him up to the reality that unless he starts speaking out as a gay Republican, others in his situation will remain in the closet, and his party won't change one iota on one of the leading civil rights issues of our time.

"I chose to conceal who I truly am and to then actually vote against the best interests of people like me. All this was done because I was afraid – terrified, really – that somehow I would be revealed as gay. My past actions harmed gay people. In fact, all people are harmed when there is unequal treatment of anyone under the constitution and laws of our country," Sen. Ashburn wrote. Then came his call to arms for his fellow lawmakers.

"It’s time for fair-minded Republicans to speak up for what our party really stands for—individual freedom and limited government. If we truly believe the greatness of America is founded on the individual achievements of ordinary citizens acting with the maximum amount of personal liberty, then there should be no debate over where Republicans stand on the rights of LGBT Americans," Sen. Ashburn concluded.

Huh, I'd like to see a certain leading GOP figurehead refudiate that.

Abbie Kopf wrote here last month that Sen. Ashburn presents a real challenge (and an opportunity) to the LGBT community. First the challenge: here is a man who has voted against gay rights legislation so much in his past, that he was considered anything but a friend in California's legislature. Gay blog Queerty even went so far as to say that Sen. Ashburn "deserves no sympathy when it comes to what he helped contribute to: a less accepting, more divisive and discriminatory society."

But therein lies the opportunity for the LGBT community to show that we're a movement that can forgive and move forward productively. That's why I think what Abbie wrote a few months back deserves repeating. Heck, I'm even tempted to write it down on a piece of paper and read it every morning.

"Our cause will only be white noise if our anger is the only thing that people hear. This fight is about love and love includes forgetting wrongs in order to move forward as a unified whole — stronger, bigger and better. Let’s show the homophobes that unlike them, we walk the walk when it comes to the golden rule," Kopf said.

Easier said than done, of course. But if that's not what our movement for equality is eventually striving for, then I have serious concerns about our movement as a whole.

by Michael A. Jones July 21, 2010