(thanks to Lena & Princeton for the image)

Stu Rasmussen is my new favorite person. Here’s his mayor’s page, with his photo prominently displayed.

For those who have been feeling frustrated and sad about Prop 8, Charles Kaiser at OpenSalon says:

Therefore, this week’s victories for the religious right in California, Arizona and Florida are really the last gasp of a fringe movement trying  to forestall the inevitable, rather than proof of a new “cultural brick wall.”

& He provides some very compelling evidence, so go read it, & be heartened.

Barbara Carrellas told me that tonight, this night that Obama won, her next door neighbor put a candle on their doorstep & a white handkerchief on the doorknob: the sign of a safe house during the time of the Underground Railroad.

For years I have had my key in our front door and made a point of not turning my head over my right shoulder so that I would not see the big gaping lack in the sky where the towers stood.

I’ve felt for the past 8 years like that crazy chracter Whoopi Goldberg played on Star Trek, in that one episode where she knew the ship wasn’t supposed to be at war, and that children were supposed to be on board, but weren’t. She kept telling everyone they were in the wrong reality.

We’ve been in the wrong reality for 8 years at least. There is a part of me that wants to go back to that time of outpouring of sympathy from the world we received and just apologize already for having shit on their sympathy with aggression & “the Bush doctrine” of Orwellian, preventative war. I want still for the US to say to the rest of the world that we’re sorry for our bad manners; we were traumatized and stupid and scared and that we’re very, very sorry for not having taken their shows of empathy with grace and thanks.

& Then I think of that candle on Barbara’s stoop and that white handkerchief on her doorknob and I think of how far we have gone back, what deep wounds we might heal now, and I am awed at the idea of it.

To the rest of the world: the difficult but lovable child full of promise that the US used to be is back. We’re still a big precocious brat in some ways, but full of love and honor and bravery in others: a 19 year old to your more mature years, still a little impetuous and wet behind the ears but hopeful and not entirely stupid. I feel like we’ve finally gotten to that moment full of tears and anger where we admit how much we were hurt and how much hurting we did and try, still a little clumsily, to try a little harder.

(this post is dedicated to Anne Wendy, whose British liberalism has been a bright, bright beacon.)

Okay, here’s some cool stuff that we’ve been finding online:

BBC photos of the election

Is Obama president yet? website

The comments on DailyKos from when Obama won the Senate seat in 04

The US electoral system as described by The Times of India

If the world could vote is a site that’s logging votes from all over the world and not just in the US. Kind of staggering, really, though I do wish US citizens would consider the fact that we are the major world power, and maybe, just maybe, the world has something to say about this that we should listen to.

Oh, and maybe this crap is why.

But then, after that makes you feel like crap, read this stunning essay about why this guy didn’t vote for Obama.

& Then another, also about the past & the future, but from a decidedly NYC perspective.

Your #1, and last reason to vote for Obama: because polls aren’t always right, and a lot of races are tighter than they look like they are, and because there is no worse feeling than wondering if you could have done something, just one more thing, to make sure your candidate wins. All you’ve got left to do is vote. Just vote. It’s not hard. Stand in line. Bring your book, bring your iPod, but most importantly, bring friends & neighbors to keep you company. Some of the best times I’ve ever had have been standing in line and/or electioneering near polling areas. If you’ve already voted, bring people standing on line hot chocolate, or gum, or candy bars, or folding chairs, or even blankets to put on the ground.

For trans voters: From 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund will have lawyers staffing their hotline to respond to callers who experience discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression at the polls. If you experience discrimination at your polling place, call their hotline at (646) 862-9396. Exercise your right to vote on November 4th. They’ll be there to make sure your vote counts.

& Tomorrow we’ll wake up & the trans community will have a fighting chance with President Elect Barack Obama.

Reason #2 to vote for Obama is because when it came to extending non-discrimination coverage for Federal employees and contractors, Obama wanted to make sure that gender identity was an included category for non-discrimination (which is, imho, an excellent predictor of his backing a gender identity inclusive ENDA).

For trans voters: From 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund will have lawyers staffing their hotline to respond to callers who experience discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression at the polls.

If you experience discrimination at your polling place, call their hotline at (646) 862-9396. Exercise your right to vote on November 4th. They’ll be there to make sure your vote counts.

Reason #3 to vote for Obama is because on-the-ground discrimination issues - bathrooms, healthcare, veterans’ services, & social services - are exactly the kinds of issues Obama has worked on and felt strongly about for his entire career. A President Obama will give us a chance to bring these issues to light nationally, to do the research on where discrimination is happening, and how, and to whom, and to have the data to fix the problem.

Bathrooms, baby! Maybe someday we can stop talking about them!

& Here’s Charles, born in 1922, talking about volunteering for the Obama campaign in Boulder, CO. (Have a tissue ready.)

Reason #4 to vote for Obama is because an activist who lives in Virginia is pleased to be in a battleground state, for once! - and has even seen Obama signs in neighborhoods that are decidedly and unapologetically Republican.

& Here’s Andrew Sullivan’s Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote for Obama.

The news is just in that the incomparable Studs Terkel has died at the age of 96. I knew the news was coming, sooner rather than later, but I was hoping he’d make it to see the first black president of the US.

I’m not going to say more just now. He was one of my favorite people ever, and I’m sad to see him go.

added: the NYT obit is up.

The Nation’s John Nichols has his tribute up on Alternet.

Reason #5: Vote for Obama because he was one of the earliest co-sponsors of the Matthew Shepard Act, which provides hate crimes protections for all LGBT people nationally.

& Here’s his closing argument, a speech Obama gave in Canton, Ohio, a few days ago. If you have been listening, it’s a good re-cap of his ideas and platforms, and if you haven’t, then this is it, in a nutshell.

Reason #6 to vote for Obama: he welcomes transgender lobbyists to his office, is fluent in our issues, cares about them, & wants to learn about all the different identities and hurdles faced by all of the different types of transgender people.

(Hey, that’s more than you can say about some members of the trans community!)

& Here’s some Obama cake & cupcakes, and even more clever, Barack O’Lanterns (or Jack O’Bamas?), just in time for Halloween!

Vote for Obama because: despite LGBT people objecting to both Presidential & VP candidates with the old complaint, “but neither of them are for gay marriage” please keep in mind that in fact, Senators Obama & Biden are both against all of the state and federal amendments that would rewrite constitutions to limit marriage to one man & one woman. Senator Biden, specifically, appeared on Ellen to talk about his dislike of Proposition 8 in California & all other propositions like it.

& For anyone who still hasn’t seen this, the guys from the original Bud “Wassup” ad, 8 years later, are ready for change.

While you’re at it, Californians, Vote No on Prop 4, too.

She was a paid organizer! She was a paid organizer!! & Ted Stevens is guilty!

(Do you hear that sound? It’s Palin, getting ready for 2012.)

Oh, this is too lovely.

Reason #9: Vote for Obama because Senator Obama, while working in the State Senate of Illinois, went out of his way to add explicit language that would include LGBT couples in the Domestic Violence bill there. The version with his language didn’t pass (with the Republicans controlling the state senate), but a very good statute did. The point is: Obama specifically wanted language that informed law enforcement to be aware that domestic violence effects LGBT couples too.

Also, check out this endorsement from The Anchorage Daily News.

I had the fantastic opportunity to listen in on a conference call from Obama Pride that was specifically about & for the trans community. Wow. It is so astonishing to hear people from so many states talk about what they’re doing in their own states, and what challenges we face. With Betty’s foot broken, I’m not sure we’ll get to canvas as much as I’d like, so in addition, I’ve decided to use a bunch of what I learned during that call to give you 10 reasons, in these last 10 days, to vote for Obama.

Thanks to Tobias Wolff and Marsha Botzer for hosting it.

Reason #10: Vote for Obama because the people of Omaha, Nebraska - that red state in a swath of red states - are trying to turn their district blue for the first time since 1964. Go Omaha! Gobama! Nebraska is only one of two states that allocates electoral votes by congressional district (the other is Maine), which is what makes this effort important.

The Trans for Obama campaign continues! It’s your time to stand up & be counted, trans democrats, independents, and republicans! If you’re voting for Obama, why not make your vote count twice?

First, here’s a reminder of an event way early in the campaign that has been forgotten by the “they’re both against gay marriage” set: Obama made a point of shutting down homophobic sentiments when he could have just let the moment pass. For those who think that them both being against gay marriage means there’s no difference between them when it comes to LGBT issues, please remember that McCain chose a running mate who is for “ex gay” therapy.

Then go look at these photos. I love that this photographer just kind of knew - as did Richard Avedon (watch till the end) - that Obama would become President Obama. Look at the one of his shoes. Of him cleaning up the drips from his ice cream. At the faces of the young people listening to and looking at him.

My firm belief is that Obama is an extraordinary president for extraordinary circumstances. That we are in the latter is in no doubt, considering this week’s economic news; there are lay-offs happening in all sectors of the economy. That the former is true - that Obama is the right president for this time - is only something I can be sure of in my head and heart. His decision to run when he did, his unbelievable good planning with making it to the nomination = all of these things, the odds he’s beat, tell me that his time is now.

And now it is yours. Go out and vote - early, if you can, to avoid the lines, or on November 4th.

This image is, I think, the reason Barack Obama raised $150 million for the month of September. We’ve already voted, with our wallets; we’re tired of being embarrassed to be American, when we really are a great nation that has acted shamefully these past few years.

I was poking around recently, trying to find out about a PSA that we’d been discussing in the mHB forums lately which is about trying to discourage kids to say “that’s so gay” when they mean “that’s not cool” when I found that the PSA is part of a larger campaign by The Ad Council & GLSEN to “think b4 you speak.” I love the idea, and not just because “that’s so gay” is unnecessarily homophobic, but because I so wish people didn’t use language so carelessly.

As a result I found change.org, which is a huge social issues/activist-oriented collection of blogs on various issues. There’s a blog on women’s rights, animal rights, global warming, immigration, and of course gay rights, which - lo & behold! - has me on its recommended reading list. How cool is that?

Great resource for us social justice types, so do go check it out.