Remembering November 4, 2008

I had to work that magical election night at my post which was at a downtown Louisville high rise apartment building.  I will never forget the spectacle of people dancing in the lobby of that building with tears in theirs and my eyes the moment Sen. Barack Obama passed the 270 electoral vote mark and we witnessed the historic election of an African American as the 44th president of the United States.

Thinking about that night still makes me cry and it's three years later.

But deep down we knew that this election, as improbable as we believed it was and thought would never see happen in our lifetimes, would be easy compared to the upcoming 2012 one.

This time the Forces of Intolerance, the conservafool movement, the Tea Klux Klan, wishy-washy progressive white voters and naked racism and bigotry are part of the forces deployed in opposition to President Obama getting a second term and this campaign will be much tougher for him to win.

But it will be so much sweeter if he does so on November 6, 2012

To remind you of what that night three years ago felt like, let's climb into Moni's wayback machine to the night of November 4, 2008 and remind you that Yes We Can do this again.

First Day For Early Voting In 2011 Houston Municipal Elections

If you live in the Houston area, today is the first day that you can vote in the 2011 Houston city elections.  The early voting period will last until November 4, and election day will be on November 8. 

So after you take yourself to the polls, take a friend or group of friends with you or y'all go together.   If you're part of the rainbow community or an ally and want to know who the candidates are who support our human rights issues are that earned our support, here are the list of candidates who earned the endorsement of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus.

And yes, I definitely don't want you peeps to forget that one of those caucus endorsed candidates is transwoman Jenifer Rene Pool who is trying to make electoral history in H-town.

And oh yeah, Mayor Annise Parker is trying to get a second term .

We also need to support the HISD board members who are up for reelection who voted for us and the inclusive policies back in August.

And no, it's not too late to drop a few dollars in their campaign coffers or volunteer if you feel inclined to do so, but what they need more than anything else besides those two things is your vote.

Poland Elects Trans MP

For the first time since 2008, there will be a transperson sitting in their nation's highest legislative body.

57 year old Anna Grodzka is a member of the newly minted liberal party called Pallikot's Support Movement, which stunned the political establishment in Poland by garnering 10 percent of the vote in Sunday's election..

The party was founded by vodka tycoon Janusz Palikot who was a lawmaker in Prime Minister Donald Tusk's center-right Civic Platform until he got exasperated with the party's conservatism on social issues and broke away to form his own party.   Pallikot's Support Movement has attracted younger voters with its support for gay rights, abortion and legalization of soft drugs and with its attacks on the influential Roman Catholic Church

Grodzka is also an example of what can happen if you just step out there, put yourself in the game and get in it to win it. "I decided to be a candidate for Palikot's Movement because I want the voice of people who are excluded and discriminated against in the Polish political system to be heard," she wrote in her blog. "I believe that little by little does the trick."

She garnered 19,541 votes in the Krakow II electoral district to secure her place in the Sejm, Poland's lower house of Parliament.  She is set to become the first transperson in Poland to become an MP and the first in Europe since Vladimir Luxuria lost her seat in the Italian elections in 2008.

Georgina Beyer, the world first transsexual to be elected to their national legislative body, retired from New Zealand's Parliament after serving as a Labour MP from November 27, 1999 until February 14, 2007

Grodzka is the founder and president of NGO Trans-Fuzja, and has her work cut out for her in her stated mission of help Poles understand the problems of people who transition as she did last year.   The Polish anti-discrimination law of 2010 does not include gender identity nor gender expression as possible grounds for discrimination.

Congrats Anna on making some trans history.  May you be wildly successful in your dual missions of representing your constituents and fostering increased understanding of transpeople in a staunchly Catholic Poland.

Ontario Provincial Elections 2011-Renee's Relieved

As my homegirl and her family carve their Thanksgiving turkey today my favorite Canadian blogger will probably be exhaling and saying a few thank you Lawdy's.

She's relieved that Liberal Dalton McGuinty is still her home province's Premier despite being down by 20 points in the polls a few months ago.

We discuss a wide range of topics during our phone conversations.  One thing I kept filed away in the back of my mind was something she told me during one of our Canadian political discussions we had in the wake of the federal election back in May and in the months leading up to her provincial one.

Ontarians will usually vote the opposite way of what happens federally, and  that bit of Canadian political wisdom Renee told me held true to form.

Despite a record low turnout in the October 6 election of 49.2% and the Liberals losing 17 seats to fall to 53 MPP's from their starting point of 70, McGuinty and the Liberals still fell just one seat shy of securing a majority in the 107 seat provincial parliament.

He will head back to Queen's Park with the Liberals  third successive electoral victory in hand and form a minority government. Tim Hudak and the Progressive Conservatives picked up 2 seats with Andrea Horwath and the NDP going on a mini Orange Crush provincial wave.   They picked up seven seats to increase their total to 17 MPP's.

McGuinty can also thank the voters in the Toronto metro area for keeping his Liberals in power, along with the urban voters in Mississauga, Brampton, Ottawa, London, Windsor and Thunder Bay. 

The Conservatives picked up their 37 total seats in rural areas and a riding in the city of Barrie but were shut out in those larger urban cities and the GTA.  

Torontonians aren't happy with their Conservative mayor Rob Ford and that may have caused enough of a backlash to keep the GTA provincial ridings in Liberal and NDP hands.

McGuinty has four years to change those lukewarm voter perceptions and make good on the campaign promise of a college tuition cut, or else the voters in Canada's most populous province may not be so forgiving and turn over power to Hudak or Horwath the next time  

Breathe Renee and enjoy your turkey.  You won't have a Conservative one as your premier..