The sky may have fallen, but it’s a weekday and that still means you get 5 LGBT things. Let’s dive in.
1. Kate Brown was elected governor of Oregon on Tuesday, making her the first openly LGBT person to be elected governor. Brown took over as governor last year, replacing John Kitzhaber, who was forced to resign over an influence-peddling scandal.
2. It appears North Carolina Gov. Pat “HB2” McCrory has been ousted from office by Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper. McCrory has not conceded, but Cooper has claimed victory in a major repudiation of the state’s anti-LGBT bill.
3. “For now, we need to breathe, stand tall and adjust to this new reality as best we can. We need — through writing, through protest, through voting in 2018 and 2020 — to be the checks and balances our government lacks so that we can protect the most defenseless among us, so that we can preserve the more perfect union America has long held as the ideal.” Bisexual feminist writer Roxane Gay has some words of wisdom following Tuesday night’s results.
4. “This presidency could mark the beginning of the biggest civil rights mobilization in this country since the 1960s. And I know queer people will be there. I will be there. Whether it’s a rally at Stonewall or my father’s workshop in Tupelo, I’m there. And if we begin to see these people again as our neighbors, maybe they, in turn, can see us the same.” You need this brief read right now. Writer Michael Lambert talks about being a gay man returning to the Deep South under president-elect Trump.
5. VIDEO OF THE DAY: And just because, here’s a live panda cam from the Smithsonian National Zoo.