First of all, let’s give a great big shout out to the people of Arizona, shall we? Thanks for being the first state to reject a ballot initiative imposing a ban on gay marriage!

And we also have to celebrate the defeat of uber-homophobe Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania. Thanks, people of Pennsylvania!

We should also celebrate the likely election of the first female Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. While that isn’t strictly a GLBT issue, it is a feminist victory!

(Aside: Pelosi is also the last protege of the late progressive political genius, former Congressman Philip Burton. Harvey Milk was another one of Burton’s proteges. If you are a progessive activist and you have not read the bio of Burton, drop what you are doing and read it right now. I mean it. Do not wait. I would loan you my copy if I could. And by loan, I mean I would bring it to your house, hand it to you, and not go away until you started reading.)

On a sadder note, the other 7 states with anti-gay ballot initiatives passed them. My home state, Wisconsin, passed it by an even larger margin than Virginia.

I’m also feeling depressed about the local results here in Georgia, which keeps being described as “the bright red star in an otherwise overwhelmingly blue election” and “the bright spot for Republicans.” The results were as expected, but the prospect of a “President Purdue” are still stomach-churning.

Maybe we should move to Massachusetts. Deval Patrick is awesome, and we could get married.