LGBTQ news and entertainment
Seen at a shop at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. – Romney merchandise is already knocked down to 60%.
If you can’t read the dark print above “Up to 60% Off” – it reads “Romney merchandise only.” I guess the Obama merch is doing well.
At 1:45 a.m., Campaign Manager Richard Carlbom of Minnesotans United for All Families announced to campaign staff and board members that the vote on the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota was too close to call.
As he was about to end his remarks and tell everyone to get some sleep, the news came that the Associated Press had confirmed the defeat of the amendment.
The big moment is at the 3:00 mark. This is joy.
So this is what they do over on Fox News…
Well, now I know.
For months, Randy Report readers have watched me post the NY Times’ Nate Silver’s forecast for the election. Now I can show you why he’s the numbers guy to follow.
Here is Nate Silver’s final forecast prediction of the election:
And here’s how it all actually played out. Pretty amazing.
Give the guy a pat on the back. Nate knows his stuff. Remember you can find him on the NY Times website.
Washington United just posted on their website the tally – 52%-48%
This is a clear win,” said WUM campaign manager Zach Silk. “We have run the numbers every which way, and we can now confidently say that we have won. This is an historic day for Washington, an historic day for our country and, most of all, for families across the state who have dreamed of this day and the wedding celebrations to come.”
Four states with marriage equality on the ballot last night. Four wins for the good guys!
History, kids. History.
Forward.
After punishing three Supreme Court justices in the last election over same-sex marriage, the Des Moines Register reports that anti-gay voters in Iowa failed to send the fourth home:
Wiggins, 61, needed a simple majority of votes to stay on high court. With 83 percent of Iowa’s 1,689 precincts reported, Wiggins had 54 percent.
“As I understand the numbers, I think we did get a decisive win” that hopefully will prevent future challenges to judges, said Iowa State Bar Association Cynthia Moser. “We’ve very pleased with the numbers we received.”
Bob Vander Plaats, head of the Iowans For Freedom committee that spearheaded a campaign to oust Wiggins, conceded defeat late Tuesday. However, he said the apparent small margin for retention was “not a great validation for Justice Wiggins.”
Thousands of voters on Tuesday repeated the message sent two years ago that they didn’t want the courts to make law, Vander Plaats said. “I think the courts understand that people of Iowa still have a voice if they chose to go outside their constitutional boundaries.”
Writing for Slate, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe expresses his – and many people’s – thoughts on the historic advances with last nights’ marriage equality successes:
“I would like to thank every single person that helped defeat the same-sex marriage ban in Minnesota, as well as every person who contributed to passing marriage-equality legislation in Maryland and Maine and (likely) Washington. Together, we made a statement that America is tired of division. America is tired of discrimination, of exclusion, and of unthinking oppression—the belief that people have to live their lives according to someone else’s views rather than their own free will.
“Together, we made sure that the world our children will grow up in is one step closer to tolerance, love, and equality; a world where our children can make their own choices instead of being shackled to dusty hate from the past. Together, we showed this nation that a polity functions best when it includes all of its citizens, when it celebrates their differences as part of one glorious whole, when it synthesizes a wide assortment of cultures and beliefs under the guiding principles of freedom and happiness for everyone.
“Together, we can approach the work still at hand. We can face the continuous fight for equality that every society must wage each generation. We may not know the specifics until they’re upon us, but the underlying foundation is always the same—living your own life vs. someone else making your choices for you.
“Together, we can promote free will over oppression. We can treat others the way we want to be treated, with dignity and respect. We can work together to find common ground, despite our differences, and build a stable, nurturing society. There is work yet to be done, but we passed an important milestone today. Ten, 15, 20 years from now, when our children ask us, ‘What did you do when it came time to fight for someone else?,’ we can tell them about Minnesota and Maryland and Maine, states where people finally said: Enough.
“Enough with the hate. Enough with the bigotry. Enough with the discrimination. We are all Americans, and we are all in this together. Without each other, we have nothing.”
As it became evident that President Obama was being re-elected, he sent out this tweet. It has become the most popular tweet of all time. At this writing it has been retweeted over 700,000 times.
This puts him ahead of the previous “most popular” tweet, sent by Justin Bieber.
So in one night President Obama beat Mitt Romney AND Justin Bieber.