Nickie Antonio Now Running Unopposed; Poised to Become Ohio's First Gay Legislator

Word comes tonight that the challenger of Ohio House candidate Nickie Antonio has dropped out of the race, making her virtually assured of becoming Ohio's first openly gay or Lesbian representative. H/t to Equality Ohio for the email notice

Jeremy Caldwell had been running against Ms. Antonio as an independent. He hasn't posted a reason for dropping out on his MySpace blog, though the fact that his web presence was a MySpace group with 15 friends may have something to do with it.

Since talking about her sexuality caused a stir on the blogosphere recently, let me say this. Like Jack Shafer, I dream of a day when a person's sexuality will not be an issue. Since today it is with a significant portion of the electorate, when a candidate is able to succeed despite the bias of that part of the electorate, it is a thing to be celebrated. The only way we get to the end point of sexuality being irrelevant is to pay attention to successes of LGBT people today.