“and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid
So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive”
-Audre Lorde

Salaam to you.

A collective post of things that are completely worth celebrating: in no particular order-

• Tammy Duckworth (center) from Illinois becomes the first disabled woman to be elected as Congresswomen. Also, she is a Chinese woman born in Thailand. Yay diversity!
• Mazie Hirono (top left) from Hawaii becomes the first Asian-American woman (born in Japan) in the U.S. Senate. [x] She has also served as one of two Buddhists ever in US Congress, and is the first in the Senate. [x]
• Tulsi Gabbard (top right), of Hawaii, becomes first American Hindu in US Congress. [x]
• Grace Meng (bottom left) becomes the first Asian-American from New York elected to Congress. [x]
• That means the rape apologist Joe Walsh has been kicked off. [x]
• Todd Akin who’s been quoted saying; “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down” never made it. He lost to the incumbent, Claire McCaskill. [x]
  
• The disgusting Richard Mourdock who thinks “Rape is a gift from God”: booted off. [x]
  
• Colorado has become the first state to legalize the recreational use and sale of marijuana. [x] As predicted, this has also been legalized in Washington. [x]
• Maine, Maryland and Washington (though votes are still coming in) have voted for marriage equality, and Minnesota has voted for NOT passing a ban on marriage equality for same-sex couples. 
• Tammy Baldwin (bottom right) in Wisconsin becomes the first openly gay Senator to be elected. [x]
• Mary Gonzalez (bottom center) of Texas is the first openly pansexual Representative of State in Austin (and she came out three months ago). [x]
• Elizabeth Warren becomes the first woman elected as a senator to a federal office in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. [x]
• New Hampshire is the first stare with an all female delegation! [x]

• Also adding in from a message sent by theinterbutt: “Orange County voters (in Florida) delivered a huge election victory for out, gay candidate Joe Saunders in Florida House District 49. This is a pretty big deal because even though Florida turned out to be a blue state in this presidential election, we are still predominately red in a lot of areas”. [x]

On a note- I’d made some mistakes on the post (for which I apologize) that people caught and brought to my attention (of which, thank you)- as well as other additions and so the post’s been edited.

Wednesday, 7 November, 2012 at 1:07 AM with 9,265 notes

via:

#US #election2012 #Illinois #Hawaii #Maine #Maryland #Minnesota #Washington #Mazie Hirono #Tammy Duckworth #marijuana #Colorado #news #politics #LGBT #LGBTQ #drugs #personal #tammy baldwin #mary gonzales #Wisconsin #texas #joe saunders #florida #Tulsi Gabbard