The history of gay politicians fighting as tribunes of homophobia and prejudice is so long and twisted and sad and awful that I don’t really think I’m in any position to judge. But I’ll give credit to state Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield), the anti-gay rights Republican who got picked up last week on a DUI after leaving a gay nightspot in Sacramento, for not pulling a Craig or a Haggard.

“I’m gay,” he told a radio interviewer this morning. “Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long.”

He explained his past voting record saying that’s what his conservative constituents wanted.