So, in case you guys missed it, the election was on Tuesday. Now, you know I would have been all over it on here, except for the fact that I was out of town. So in catching up with the week that was, I'd like to happily point out that my guy, Mark Leno, won his election to the Assembly! Woohoo! (They are still counting absentee votes because it was an incredibly close election-- thank you Jessie for taking the time, you made the difference-- but everyone is pretty assured that he is far enough ahead to pull it out.)

What does this mean? Well, for starters, it means that the California State Assembly will now have its first openly gay man. With the addition of John Laird of Santa Cruz, there will actually be two of them. Currently, there are three open lesbians in the Assembly and one in the Senate-- a record, and incredibly amazing. Now, come next year, there will be continue to be one lesbian in the Senate, two lesbians in the Assembly, and two gay men in the Assembly. Check that out! (Aaron, are you ready for this?)

Obviously this doesn't necessarily translate to all daisies and happiness for gay people, since there will continue to be discrimination and evil out there, i.e. when one of the other Assembly members recently said to one of the current lesbian Assemblywomen, "Nothing personal, Jackie Goldberg, but you're the spawn of the devil." But this does mean that they have to deal with us. It means that we are there, open, proud, defiant, and working on issues that are important to our community. They can't just party around in Sacramento, call us names, defame us, use us as a political weapon-- as they've done time and time again-- without having our presence in the mix. It's not perfection, but it's a grand start. And it's a cause for celebration!