In Tuesday's election Danica Roem (Above Center) ousted a 13 term anti gay Republican, and she became the first openly transgender elected to a US State House. Her opponent called himself Virginia's "chief homophobe" and introduced a "bathroom bill" that died in committee. How did she do it? Of course, money was forthcoming from gay organizations ($500,000), but she focused her campaign on problems in the community (a suburb of Washington DC where road congestion remains terrible). And she knocked on doors.

Meanwhile her homophobic opponent focused his campaign on the social issue of gay people and referred to Danica using the pronoun He. Also, he campaigned on his being a Republican and his long time in office.

What we learn from this landmark vote is that people are more concerned about better roads, their work, and schools than they are about who sleeps with whom or even their sex at their birth.

All people, gay and straight, can only hope this is the high water mark of politicians who get to office on platforms of hate and scare politics. Their days are over. And it certainly bodes well for the mid term elections next year. (For more from "The Washington Post," Click Here.