President Barack Obama elected to second term!

It was over much sooner than anyone thought it would be and a close race in Florida didn’t even matter in the end.

President Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney to win a second term.

Obama won the all-important swing state of Ohio to seal victory in the electoral college.

The popular vote is still too close to call.

As a gay American, it’s encouraging to see Obama remain in office. He has done so much to advance LGBT equality during his first term including the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, hospital visitation rights, hate crimes legislation and becoming the first president in US history to publicly support gay marriage.

In contrast, Romney supported a federal ban on gay marriage and had a record of being anti-gay during his term as governor of Massachusetts.

But like many other gay Americans, I’m not a one issue voter.

My biggest problem with Romney was his character, his habit of shifting views to get votes. He left me with a feeling that he could not be trusted and the possibility of his being elected truly frightened me.

I want the economy to improve and if I believed Romney being elected would have led to that, I would have felt better about the possibility. But nothing he said convinced me that he was the answer even economically.

On social issues, he would have been a nightmare.

Instead, it will be sweet dreams tonight.