Photo Essay: November 7, 2020, Long Beach, CA by Marie Cartier

My wife and I woke up to the fact that Joe Biden surpassed 270 electoral votes needed and that it appeared that he was in all likelihood going to be our next president and Kamala Harris our new VP, and the first ever female, first Black and first Asian American to hold that position. We watched television daring to believe these facts  for four hours. Then I said, “We need to drive around.” I just felt we needed to celebrate with all of us who have wanted this so badly.
We yanked the lawn sign off the lawn and drove all around Long Beach, honking the horn, as I jumped up through the moon roof in the rain, my wife honking the horn and folks high-fiving us, thumbs up, waving and yelling shout-outs.

Variations of this happened all over the world…people took to the streets dancing, and celebrating the change that they saw happening, the joy of freedom in the air of a new day.
Later that night you can see in the photos that we were joined by my fairy godson and FAR contributor John Erickson, and newly elected West Hollywood City Council member! We cried listening to the speeches and toasted with the glasses from the 2016 election that say, “Made from 100% shattered glass ceiling.”
Yes, indeed, on 11/7/2020 social media made viral the quote, “Make sure to wear shoes, ladies. There’s glass everywhere.”
* all photos by Marie Cartier, except photos with Marie with Biden/Harris sign by Kimberly Esslinger
Marie Cartier has a Ph.D. in Religion with an emphasis on Women and Religion from Claremont Graduate University.  She is the author of the critically acclaimed book Baby, You Are My Religion: Women, Gay Bars, and Theology Before Stonewall (Routledge 2013). She is a senior lecturer in Gender and Women’s Studies and Queer Studies at California State University Northridge, and in Film Studies at Univ. of CA Irvine.

13 thoughts on “Photo Essay: November 7, 2020, Long Beach, CA by Marie Cartier”

  1. It was a great day/night. I was not in a position to take to the streets in Crete (no one else was out either here), but I was with you in spirit! Hope returns. It will surely be dashed to some extent as Biden appears to be set to co-operate with the big money interests, but I cannot imagine anything worse than the last 4 years of lying and cheating and total disregard for anything other than the President’s ego and financial interests.

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  2. I didn’t go out and celebrate, but I sure could hear other people celebrating. And we are still celebrating, if more quietly, as the world begins to change…….well, at least the sane parts are changing as the GSA acknowledges the Biden/Harris victory in a safe and secure election. I’m hoping–many of us are hoping–that now we’ll have a White House that isn’t a hive of lies. That we’ll have a president who actually does his job instead of watching the Faux News Channel and playing with his smartphone all day. That there will now be some actual governing in the government.

    Thanks for the photos. Bright blessings to all of us.

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    1. so looking forward to Inauguration Day!!! yes, for sure– i;’ll be dancing in the street again i hope with the rest of the world

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  4. so looking forward to Inauguration Day!!! yes, for sure– i;’ll be dancing in the street again i hope with the rest of the world

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  7. I love your photos and your exuberance. For myself, I feel cautious relief – that we are going from terrifyingly horrible back to really bad, and maybe with enough progressive pressure, we can make Biden and Harris do what’s needed. My daughters and I celebrated the first woman VP as well, with a jubilant party. <3

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