Gay related election news

David Cicilline, former mayor of Providence, became the fourth gay member of Congress. The other three, Tammy Baldwin, Barney Frank, and Jared Polis were re-elected.

Iowa's Supremes are appointed but are subject to a regular referendum to keep their seats. Three of them were up for renewal this year, the first time since all seven approved gay marriage there. Out-of-state anti-gay forces dumped huge buckets of money in the state and were successful in ousting all three. These justices were not running against another person, only against their record in this one case. Yes, that means Supremes in other states who face voters will be looking over their shoulders when deciding gay marriage cases. So much for independent judiciary. Also, Iowa's pro-equality governor lost. The battle for equal marriage may heat up in Iowa, though the Dem leader in the legislature said no marriage protection amendment will come up for a vote.

Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat in favor of gay marriage, became governor in Hawaii. When the marriage bill (or was it civil unions?) comes up again, he'll approve it.

Lexington, KY now has a gay mayor, Jim Gray. Alas, the state also elected Rand Paul.

The New Hampshire legislature likely (as of Wednesday) turned over to the GOP, so the marriage issue will likely reignite there too. But the governor who signed their marriage bill was re-elected in spite of buckets of anti-gay money against him.

Both North Carolina House and Senate fell to GOP hands. NC will likely enact its own marriage protection amendment. Dems have kept it as the only Southern state to not do so.

The race for governor in Minnesota will likely go to a recount. The GOP candidate, Tom Emmer, is very anti-gay. At the moment, Dem Mark Dayton has the edge. Even if Dayton eventually wins, there is a big concern. The legislature, soon to have a GOP majority, may enact a marriage ban that would be signed by the current GOP governor, Tim Pawlenty (who is a prez. hopeful), while waiting for the recount to be sorted out.

The head of the National Organization for Marriage is crowing about how they contributed to a more anti-gay climate in Iowa, Minnesota, and New Hampshire where gay marriage can be stopped. At least for a while. But all other races they had their fingers in went against them.

Gays were elected to the Ohio House, North Carolina House, Washington House. Also Victoria Kolakowski, a transgender, was elected to the Superior Court of Alameda County.

Just before the election the Family Research Council (rabidly anti-gay and anti-choice) announced it was not supporting a GOP candidate from New Orleans, even though the guy is pro-life. It's because FRC is more interested in maintaining gays as a partisan issue and as soon as there are Republicans who support gays, then its game over.

And for the geeks and heavy internet users out there, all 95 House and Senate candidates who supported net neutrality lost their races.