FRAZIER PARK, CA (Monday, Mar. 8, 2010, 12:45 p.m.)—Senator Roy Ashburn said this morning during a KERN Bakersfield radio broadcast that he is gay. The interview follows Ashburn’s arrest in the early morning hours of March 3, for driving under the influence, near the state’s capitol after he reportedly visited a gay nightclub. The California Highway Patrol reported he was driving a state-owned, black Chevrolet Tahoe, with a male passenger who was not identified. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s office said Ashburn had a blood alcohol level of .14 percent.

The 55-year-old Republican state senator, a father of four, addressed his anti-gay voting record by saying on the radio show he had voted against gay rights because he felt that is how his constituents wanted him to vote. He also said he was not going to seek GOP nomination for the 20th U.S. Congressional District this year. He has "termed out" of his state senate seat at the end of 2010. 

This is part of the March 05, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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