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Insight With Vicki Gonzalez

 

Hosted By Vicki Gonzalez

Award-winning journalist Vicki Gonzalez hosts interviews with community leaders, advocates, experts, artists and more to provide background and understanding on breaking news, big events, politics and culture in the Sacramento region and beyond.

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Monday – Thursday, 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.
on News Station

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LGBTQ Lawmakers Share Personal And Professional Milestones

  •  Cody Drabble 
Thursday, June 27, 2019 | Sacramento, CA
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Rich Pedroncelli / AP
 

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

The path to marriage equality was paved with LGBT civil rights legislation large and small. In 2015, Capitol Bureau Chief Ben Adler spoke with three current and former LGBT lawmakers about their journey in public service. 

Former Senator Mark Leno of San Francisco and Assemblymember Susan Eggman of Stockton shared their personal stories and the legislative accomplishments of the LGBT Caucus. 

“When I came out [in 1969], it was to announce to the world that I was a ‘mentally ill outlaw.’ The American Psychiatric Association had not yet dropped [‘homosexuality’] from its list of mental illnesses. And even here in California, it was still a felony for adults of the same gender to have consensual relations,” says former Senator Leno.

Winning the right to care for her family without legal hurdles meant everything to Assemblymember Eggman.

“My partner's family is very Republican, very conservative, and very Pentecostal. And when we talked about who would raise this child [of a dying family member], they looked to nobody but us as the people who were the most stable, who were the most able to provide a loving home,” says Assemblymember Eggman.

Former Republican Senator Roy Ashburn recounted the DUI arrest that led to him coming out after 14 years in the Legislature, despite a voting record against LGBT civil rights bills.

“On a personal level life is much better. It's been a big transformation for me, a big change. There's a calm and a peacefulness and a serenity that comes in being truthful with yourself,” says former Senator Ashburn.

Since the first time this interview aired, Toni Atkins of San Diego became the first member of the LGBT Caucus to lead both chambers as the Assembly Speaker and the Senate President Pro Tempore. And former Senator Ricardo Lara of Los Angeles became the first openly gay lawmaker to hold statewide office as Insurance Commissioner.

    Related Stories

  • Robbie Short / CALmatters

    California’s Thriving LGBT Caucus: Because Sometimes, Lawmaking Is Personal

    Sunday, January 20, 2019
    The caucus has chalked up hard-fought legislative victories—and a to-do list for the future.
  • Jeff Chiu / AP

    A Conversation With LGBT Lawmakers

    Friday, June 23, 2017
    Capitol Bureau Chief Ben Adler spoke with three lawmakers about the LGBT laws enacted by the California Legislature. They’ll share stories about the challenges of passing civil rights bills and coming out.
  • Rich Pedroncelli / AP

    Five Years Later, Ashburn Reflects On His Journey

    Thursday, July 30, 2015
    A former Republican lawmaker who came out as gay months before leaving the California Legislature says he was wrong to oppose gay rights measures – including bills to legalize same-sex marriage.

Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio

Cody Drabble

Former Insight Producer and On-Air Director

Cody Drabble learned to love public radio growing up in San Francisco with KQED on every morning during breakfast. In addition to producing and directing the live broadcast of Insight each morning, he also fills in as guest host for Beth Ruyak.   Read Full Bio 

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