Senator Ashburn is publicly applauding the ruling - but he
says if this had happened six months ago, it would be a different
story:
"In my heart I would have been cheering the court's
decision, but publicly I would have been saying, you know, this is
not good."
In March Ashburn admitted he was gay after being arrested for
a D-U-I. The Republican had been hiding his sexual orientation
for years. He'd also voted against gay rights issues - at
least publicly. He says privately, at the ballot box, he voted
against proposition 8 - the same-sex marriage ban:
"For anyone to say that the constitution can treat one
person different that another challenges the basic premise of our
country which is that all peoples are equal and that all people
shall have the maximum freedom under our laws."
Though some members of his party have denounced the judge's
decision to overturn the ban, Ashburn says it's in line with the
values that attracted him to the Republican party:
"Those values being a constitutional guarantee of our freedoms, equal protection for all people under the law, limited government and a government that doesn't involve itself in the private lives of our citizens."
Ashburn says the GOP, through some of its candidates, has
moved away from the idea that - as he puts it - all people are
equal - and he sees this as an opportunity for Republicans to
change that.