I’d love to bring you some good news that isn’t related to Barack Obama, but what’s the point? Yesterday, he officially became our President – again, defeating Romney via popular and electoral votes after all the ballots were counted in every single state, which sounds painstaking. And months of fear and loathing (for the other guy) came down to yet another historic Election Day. There’s still tons unfolding to celebrate, so let’s get started!

This Is The New Shiny World We Live In, Hopefully

I woke up on Wednesday and, after fully registering that the night before had, indeed, been real, sat back and wondered what my friend Danny had meant when he drunkenly repeated “liberal era” over and over and over again. And then it hit me – November 6, 2012 wasn’t entirely a fluke or a crazy moment in time when a bunch of stoners hit one button with great knowledgeable force and then indecisively hit the rest in my favor. It was proof that a shift is occurring. That we run shit. That we matter. And the Des Moines Register totally got me:

This is a different America than any of us could have imagined when growing up. It’s one in which women’s votes can, and did, override the votes of men. A black president was re-elected with the support of only 39 percent of white people. Gay men and lesbians can legally marry in nine states, and marijuana can be smoked, just for fun, in two. In this new America, it’s no longer taboo to be openly gay in the U.S. Senate. There will now be seven gay and lesbian members of Congress. For the first time, an Asian-American woman will join the Senate, which inches closer to gender parity with a record 20 female members. In fact, among Democrats in the U.S. House, white men are now in the minority.

Tighten your seat belts, folks, because change is coming fast.

More Moments of Victory

Let me say it again and again and again: we won! And we have pics/video footage to prove it. So there.

Maine:

OUT Mag HQ:

Tammy Baldwin’s Rally:

Obama Is So Excited To Be Invited to Your Wedding

Still-President Obama is “absolutely delighted” that gay marriage is on the rise state-by-state. Do you think this means he’ll do it from up top soon? I’m getting so impatient.

Yoko Ono is On Our Side

Hey, look! Yoko Ono being amazing. How completely typical of her. S

You’ve said in the past that you’re upset that gays can’t get married. Can you tell me more about that?
I’m really saddened that fair treatment is not given to gays. Why can’t they get married, if they wanted to?

Would your late husband, John Lennon, have supported marriage equality?
Definitely. John hated any injustice.

You’ve always had great gay artists around you, like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. What about lesbian or transgender artists?
I wasn’t counting my friends on their sexual preference. So I don’t know.

Colorado Has A Gay Speaker

The democrats in Colorado have elected a gay man as house speaker. Let’s all get totally high and celebrate! JK. I don’t live in Colorado and never do drugs.

Everyone Is Getting Ready to Get Married

Now that gay marriage is like, the most legal thing ever, everyone is doing it, right?

+ In Baltimore, free wedding planning is being offered to gay couples because they’re so darn cute!

+ In Maryland, the plans are just rolling on out! It’s like the post offices there are just overflowing with wedding invites.

Sundance Channel Building a Trans* Drama

Ira Glass (the dude with the great glasses from This American Life) will produce a drama for the Sundance Channel called T, focused around a character’s journey from lesbian activist to trans man.

ADORABLE TEEN ROMANCE ALERT

Katie Hill and Arin Andrews had been through a lot before they met. Both of them, for example, grew up in Oklahoma and struggled with bullying there. Both of them had come out to their families and communities as trans* and began presenting as their true genders.

And now they’re dating.

(And it’s so cute that you can read about it, look at pictures of it happening, and watch video footage of it to remind yourself it’s a real story and not something devastatingly cute that I created for you.)

 The Best Romance of The Week

Gay couples in states where marriage is now in the cards for you legally and socially, I’mma let you finish, but Kate the Dog and Pippin the Deer are the fucking most amazing couple of our generation. (Except Carly and Robin. They’re obviously the most amazing couple of all time.)