TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The world was listening — some of it, anyway — when Roy Ashburn came out on Inga Barks’ radio show Monday morning.

“Well, I am gay,” Bakersfield’s conservative Republican state senator told the local talk show host.

These days, of course, the signal from KERN AM 1180 reaches anyone with an Internet connection that can stream it. Within minutes, news alerts flew from Sacramento media outlets. Tweets and blog posts lit up political sites around the country.

Monday afternoon, Ashburn’s acknowledgement was not only the most read story on The Californian’s website but the San Francisco Chronicle’s.

Barks, 42, a self-described conservative and a personal friend of Ashburn’s, cried during the broadcast.

“I think he’s sad,” she told reporters when asked about her tears during a mid-show break. “I think it’s sad.”

Cameras from three local television stations that had covered the interview — Ashburn, 55, had phoned in — trained lenses on Barks as she stepped outside the small studio’s reflective glass walls to the adjoining sidewalk. The station sits in an office park on Easton Drive, north of the Del Taco on California Avenue.

Barks told reporters she will “absolutely” continue to be friends with Ashburn, the divorced father of four.

“I love Roy,” she said. “We changed rape law for juveniles in the state of California,” she said. She and Ashburn had texted each other all weekend, she said.

Her second guest — and personal pastor — Chad Vegas, 36, also spoke to reporters during the break.

“I didn’t know Roy was going to use this opportunity to announce his homosexual inclinations,” said Vegas, a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Bakersfield.

Vegas, who stood beside Ashburn in April 2005 when the senator held a “Traditional Family Values” rally in a Bakersfield park supporting a ban on same-sex marriage, said he would do so again if Ashburn held a similar rally in the future.

“I still feel good we did that,” Vegas said.

While Barks and Vegas openly disapproved of Ashburn publicly identifying with his “sin” — and said they were sinners, too; Vegas said he is inclined toward adultery but doesn’t act on it — both said they would socialize with Ashburn and his male partner, if he has one.

“I always sort of knew” Ashburn was gay, Vegas told reporters, saying he’d heard rumors for years. “I hoped it would never be confirmed.”

When asked if Jesus still loves Ashburn, Vegas answered: “Of course.”