Roy Ashburn Steps Up

And comes out of the closet:

The family-values California Republican legislator who was reported to have been at a gay club on the night last week that he was arrested for drunk driving has acknowledged he is gay.

"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.