The Future is Passing Us By

Pam’s House Blend features this article about Romania’s new pro-gay, anti-corruption president:

Traian Basescu, the leader of the opposition, has been declared the new President of Romania, defeating the “leftist” Adrian Nastase, the Prime Minister.

The election victory gives hope to the Romanian gay community as Basescu is one of the few politicians in the country to publicly support gay rights.

His record on gay rights was one of the main issues that Social Democratic Party (CSD) opponents used against him in the presidential election.

It was in 2000 that Basescu, a former navy officer who commanded the largest ship in the Romanian navy for more than five years, became mayor of Bucharest. Then two years later, after he started a campaign for more tolerance towards gays, the government repealed Section 200 of Romanian law which dealt with sexual offences and opened the way to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

This is really interesting. On one hand, it’s quite encouraging to read something like that, and on that other, it’s disappointing that it wasn't here, and that we're not even close to electing someone like that.

Mr. Shakes the Scotsman always moans about when "you Yanks are going to get it together and elect a woman. We sorted that out years ago, and you're still faffing around with that cowboy."

It is starting to feel like the rest of the world is moving faster than we are. Or, more accurately, that they’re moving forward, and we’re regressing. I’ve never felt that way before. It’s…disconcerting.