On election night I found myself on Capitol Hill in Seattle at a volunteer orientation for the Lifelong AIDS Alliance. I had not planned to follow election coverage - after the orientation I intended to come home and watch a movie with Danielle. But, as I was out anyway, I decided to take a peek inside Big Mario's (a pizza restaurant/bar I'd wanted to investigate) for a quick look at election results. The place was packed with, for the most part, people much younger than I, and they seemed to be, in general, leaning in a Democratic direction. I could not get a seat, but I ordered a cold Sapphire. This was about 7:30pm Pacific Time. As I was waiting for my drink, a friendly gentleman and his lady indicated they had room in their booth and I should join them. This was Aaron and Kristin. Shortly after that, another friend of theirs, Alex, joined us.
As the results came in and it became clear it was going to be a successful evening for the Democrats, our thoughts turned to R-74, the marriage equality initiative in Washington. We could see that marriage equality was going to win out in Maryland and Maine; that in Minnesota the voters had blocked anti-marriage equality language from being inserted into their constitution, so we were optimistic because, you know, IBL supports that shit, as do Aaron, Kristin and Alex. At a certain point, though "all the votes were not in", the pundits called the initiative in favor of marriage equality, and the bar erupted with noise. After a celebratory drink, we exchanged contact information and the three of them made their way home.
I wandered out onto Pike and discovered that the streets were jammed with hundreds and hundreds of people celebrating (could have been a thousand, but I'm bad at judging that) - celebrating Obama's victory, sure; but, from what I could tell, celebrating marriage equality even more. Normally, I do not like crowds like this, but I have to admit I was pleased to be in the middle of it, as everyone was so Goddamn happy, and I couldn't spot a trace of unruliness. I took but this one snap to document my presence -
I got home late, but well worth it - the victory for Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts; the defeat of Todd Akin in Missouri; the marriage equality initiatives; Carl Rove fulminating.
Plus I made three new friends.
Everybody in, nobody out...
IBL:mm
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Civility.