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Erection ’08: Hooray For Obama And Gay Candidates Everywhere!

OUR HERO!!! Disguised as a mild mannered senator from Illinois, Barack Obama was sent from Planet Krypton to save Planet Earth starting with America, a small British colony gone horribly awry.
Americans and people worldwide literally danced in the streets upon the announcement of Democratic President-Elect Barack Obama. And who can blame them? After eight years of corruption and cronyism through Bush and an inspiring campaign promising to usher America into the new age, it looks as if America and the world stand together at the precipice of a brighter future. We applaud Barack Obama for his historic win! We also applaud gay and lesbian political victors across America. Gaypolitics.com has a list of some of the winners:

• Jared Polis of Colorado became the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Congress as a non-incumbent.  He joins Rep. Barney Frank and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, both reelected Tuesday night, as the only openly LGBT Members of Congress.
• Kate Brown became the first openly LGBT Secretary of State in the U.S., and the second-highest ranking elected official in the state of Oregon.  Brown is openly bisexual.
• Sam Adams was elected mayor of Portland, Oregon earlier in the year.  He will become the first openly gay mayor of one of the 30 largest U.S. cities when he’s sworn in next year.
• Jason Bartlett, who came out as gay in his current term, was reelected to the Connecticut State House.  He is only the second openly gay African-American state legislator in the nation.
• Thomas Robichaux and Seth Bloom, both gay men, simultaneously became the first-ever openly LGBT elected officials in the state of Louisiana when they were elected to the Orleans Parish School Board in an October primary.
• John Perez became the first openly gay person of color elected to the California Assembly.
• Lupe Valdez was reelected to a second term as sheriff of Dallas County, Texas.  First elected in 2004, Valdez was the first woman, the first Latina and the first out lesbian ever to win the post.
• Kevin Beckner won a seat on the Hillsborough County Commission in Florida, unseating an anti-gay incumbent and becoming the first openly gay man elected in the county.
• Rebecca Kaplan will be the first out lesbian to serve on the Oakland, Calif. City Council after winning her race Tuesday.

Celebration is absolutely called for in these races. However, we should be mindful as well that bigotry, intolerance, and fear is a political tool still being used in electoral races:

• In Oklahoma, Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth was narrowly defeated in a statewide race after last-minute attack ads and mailers suggested he would push a “homosexual agenda” in his role as a regulator of the state’s energy industry.
• Garnet Lewis, who was seeking a seat in the Michigan State House, was subject to an onslaught of anti-gay attacks in print and radio media outlets during the final week of her campaign.  She lost her race.

We still have a ways to go it seems. But take heart, we have the world’s support. Even aspiring Japanese pop stars think Obama’s awesome. See what we mean after the jump…

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