It’s the morning after a confusing, nail-bitingly close election that’s still far from being called in several key states. However, with the long-feared “red wave” failing to manifest, queer and trans folks have plenty to be thankful for.

These midterms gave us a series of exciting firsts across the board.

In Montana, we got the first trans woman legislator in the state’s history: Congratulations to Zooey Zephyr!

In Arkansas, Democratic Justice of the Peace Evelyn Ríos Stafford kept her historic seat:

In Kansas, Governor Laura Kelly will continue to fight against anti-trans measures in her state:

And in Nevada, a measure to protect the rights of trans and queer individuals passed, making any forthcoming anti-trans measures that much easier to defeat:

In Loudoun County, Virginia, Erika R. Ogedegbe will fight for the rights of trans students on the Leeburg School Board:

Trans scientist and activist Brianna Titone won reelection in Colorado: she remains the state’s first openly-trans state legislator:

And Minnesota state representative Alicia Kozlowski became the state’s first nonbinary candidate in history:

Minnesota also got its first openly-trans legislator in state representative Leigh Finke:

All in all, it was a night full of wins for the queer and trans community. We still have a long fight ahead of us, and our wins will put us at the center of even fiercer efforts to curtail our rights across the country: Tennessee has already started with a call to criminalize public drag shows.

But make no mistake: we’ll keep fighting, and winning.

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