Tonight, after being a Daily Kos reader for a goddamn long time, Betty posted a piece about our local elections here in Appleton, WI:

I live and work in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Two of our Alderman elections were won by people I know and respect. Both were first-timers.
…
This is big and it’s nice. The town I live in has a progressive backbone and just showed it. The birthplace of Joe McCarthy.
Nice.
Appleton is part of the Green Bay/Oshkosh corridor (probably the biggest by population) and from what I can tell, leans conservative (I’m a recent emigré from Brooklyn, NYC).
Wahl and Metille are progressive. And they won. Impressively.
In Prosser’s back yard.
Small victories.
Appleton, WI has two more progressive voices in elected positions.
Nice.
I like the small victories. They smell like big ones.

Of course we are still waiting, will be waiting a while for the Prosser/Kloppenburg results, but in the meantime, we have these victories.

I am sick to death of people being able to vote on my marriage, my citizenship, my humanity.

I want the right to bring every heterosexual couple to the steps of the courthouse in Maine and have the rest of us vote on whether they should or can be married.

This is bullshit. It’s embarassing as an American that we are so far behind most of Europe on civil rights. We used to take the lead – with suffrage, with child labor, with all sorts of shit. And now… it’s just embarassing.

I want freedom from their religion, their stupidity, & their prejudice.

I have been on both sides of this issues – having been a legally married heterosexual, and in some ways, still being that – and it makes me fucking sick that people who don’t know me get to decide if I get to be married, and whether my legal marriage will be recognized or not.

I’m just fucking fed up.

I’m tired of spending Election Days worrying about my friends, their spouses, their families, their kids.

When do we get to vote on whether heterosexual marriage is acceptable? When do we get to apply some arbitrary and hypocrital set of moral standards to everyone else’s relationships?

ONE KALAMAZOO DECLARES VICTORY IN BALLOT FIGHT
Kalamazoo residents approve nondiscrimination ordinance

“Our campaign started with a very basic idea, and today voters confirmed that we are One Kalamazoo,” said Campaign Manager, Jon Hoadley.

With only absentee ballots outstanding, 65 percent of Kalamazoo voters have approved Ordinance 1856 by a vote of 6,463 to 3,527, adding protections for gay and transgender people to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance.  This margin is larger than the number of outstanding absentee ballots that are currently being counted.

“I am elated with the outcome of the election,” says Yes on Ordinance 1856/One Kalamazoo Steering Committee member and local resident Janice Brown.  “This vote reinforces what our campaign set out to prove – that our fellow residents of Kalamazoo share the belief that all people should be treated fairly and equally, including gay and transgender people.”

The outcome of today’s vote confirmed that all hardworking people in Kalamazoo should have the chance to earn a living and provide for themselves and their families without fear of being fired for reasons that have nothing to do with their job performance.

“Kalamazoo is a great place to live and the passage of Ordinance 1856 makes the city an even better place,” says local resident Rev. Matt Laney, Pastor of the First Congregational Church.  “I am proud to live in a city that recognizes that all people deserve fairness and respect.”

The Yes on 1856/ One Kalamazoo campaign in support of the nondiscrimination ordinance involved hundreds of local volunteers and contributors, and had the endorsement of over 30 local religious, social, business, and political organization.   The campaign would like to thank the Kalamazoo community for asserting their belief in the inherent equality of all Kalamazoo residents, and the countless volunteers for their hard work and dedication in recent months – and in some case, years – to ensure the passage of the ordinance.

Especially if you’re in Maine, Washington state or Kalamazoo, MI.

Homophobes please stay home. Really. There’s nothing important to vote on today.