Constituents conflicted over gay legislator

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(03-10) 04:00 PST Bakersfield - -- The state senator who represents this Bible Belt region of farms and oil fields was once best known for moments like the one he created on April 2, 2005.

Organizing a rally at Bakersfield's Patriots Park, Roy Ashburn stood with evangelical leaders to condemn same-sex marriage as gay-rights advocates shouted him down.

"Marriage between one man and one woman is fundamental to civilization," Ashburn said that day.

Now, after a drunken driving arrest near a gay bar in Sacramento forced Ashburn to reveal that he is homosexual, people in his district - including some who were at Patriots Park that day - are wrestling with what to make of him and his long public career.

Conservative leaders call him a sinner, while gay-rights activists say he wielded anti-gay votes as a shield to protect his secret. But in cafes, salons and saloons, many regular folks voiced the same opinion: It's better to have a gay politician voting against gay rights than to have a straight one voting for them.

While lauding him for being a politician who could set aside his sexuality, however, many voters admitted they couldn't do the same.

They said Ashburn never would have been elected if voters knew he was gay - not even to the Kern County Board of Supervisors, where he started out in 1984. Whether that makes Ashburn a liar or a pragmatic politician who knows his constituency is the subject of hot debate.

"He votes, more or less, along Kern County lines," said Mel Lawrence, a 68-year-old country musician, as he prepared to take the stage Monday night at Trout's bar on the edge of Bakersfield. "I know he might have voted against how he truly felt at times. I don't know if you'd call that hypocritical or just doing his job."

Like many people, Lawrence described his outlook as deeply rooted but complicated. He grew up in Texas and Phoenix, attending conservative Pentecostal churches, but he also has a lesbian stepdaughter he loves.

"I just don't believe in it," he said of same-sex marriage.

Across the bar, Vince Edwards, a 29-year-old electrician and ex-Marine from Texas, said he had no problem with what gay people did "behind closed doors," but admitted he was "just prejudiced against gays. I'm just not comfortable with them."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/10/MNSE1CDBEB.DTL&sfgabt=ttmabta#ixzz0hrDiDRGI

This article is long, and I'll finish reading it as soon as I wake up. I thought this article was quite interesting though, so I just had to comment on it on what I've read so far.

I didn't quite get this part, "It's better to have a gay politician voting against gay rights than to have a straight one voting for them". Why was that the case, why is it better? It's like an Asian hating on Asians, what's so great about that? I just don't get it.

Pretty interesting, how this man was caught... and in the next paragraph of the article, he admits that he is gay. To finish this comment, I like the last comment/statement/paragraph that I have quoted. More people should be like that... they don't have to be comfortable with the gay, but they shouldn't care about what happens behind the closed doors. I guess I like the wording, is all ^__^;