She won the election fair and square.  Her name is Patricia Todd, she's openly lesbian and ran for a seat in the Alabama state house representing Birmingham.  And she won!  But the mother in law of one of her Democratic opponents (there were no Republicans in this race) filed a coomplaint about an arcane rule that has been disregarded since 1988, most notably by the party's current nonimees for Governor and Lt. Governor.  And word from Pam's House Blend is that the rule itself may not have been valid. 

So a Democratic party committee overturned the election results.  Where it stands now?  The party executive committee may overturn the overturn. 

Check out these bloggers for more insight into this mayhem ...

Pam's analysis of the turmoil

The anti-gay spin has been downplayed in coverage, but the fact of the matter is, as the NYT article notes, anonymous fliers were posted calling Patricia Todd a "confessed lesbian." No one needs to ignore this and let it slip below the radar. The black homophobia should not be swept under the rug.

And so, with the disqualification over an arcane rule that no Dem in a certified race has followed, this is a statement that "if we can't have the black winner we want, we'll sacrifice both of them to get the white lesbian out of the picture."

Birmingham Blues has more good stuff ...

We'll follow this and hope for the best with today's meeting ....