LGBT

Nestled into the historic euphoria of Tuesday's mandate-level win (presidency and increases in both houses of Congress) was the 4-state loss banning same-sex marriage or same-sex adoptions, most notably Prop 8 in California. There have been a lot of protests since then and the LGBT community has been galvanized and is organizing well. This issue is also touching heavily on religion as it always does, but particularly also on the separation of church and state, with Church of Latter Day Saints pumping millions into the Yes effort on Prop 8. This effort looks to be a clear violation of their tax-exempt status. The LDS is a 501c3, which, without getting overly detailed is the "non-political" non-profit type, meaning it is not supposed to lobby:

In general, no organization, including a church, may qualify for IRC section 501(c)(3) status if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation (commonly known as lobbying).

So I posit this purely anecdotally. But (1) the reduction of spending on domestic prevention initiatives, (2) coupled with a decade of inaccurate testing and (3) the limitations of comprehensive medical coverage under a private system = grounds for a resurgence of this or a new public health epidemic.

And while we're JUST now getting condom ads (that never explicitly mention hetero sex, let alone LGBT sex) aired on US television, South America is inclusive and... damn funny.

Copyranter has typically thorough and witty coverage of Tulipan's print campaign, but the TV spot is phenomenal.

Doree Shafrir, linked via Gawker, did a great piece in the Observer called "The New Old Gays: Remember Those Good Old Tragic, Magic, Diva-Loving Retro-Gays? Swish is Back With a Vengeance! So Gather Round the Piano Bar, From Patti LuPone to Barbra, We’re Taking a Trip to … Xanadu!"
As an addendum to this obscenely useful and marvelous nomenclature, I'd also like to add the "New Grrrl, Old Grrrl" paradigm.
Gloria Steinem finally, begrudgingly endorsed Obama after leading the racist and sexist charge against him, and arguably helping to discredit her favored candidate by highlighting the attitudes of powerful American women of the past that the public hasn't-- nay, couldn't embrace.

For Obama to be seen doing this:

That's Lula from Brazil. The president, signaling his support for a major part of his constituency, and also signaling support for equality for his citizens. This is my concern for the signaling of Kaine as VP. It's a concerted rebuffing to the idea that basic equality measures will not advance in the upcoming Democratic majority Congress and Democratic Executive. And that's atrocious.

The Advocate has a great piece on Cuba and Brazil who have opted for full transgender operation coverage as part of their already nationalized universal health care systems.