The main stories coming out of the recent elections in the United States have of course been that Barack Obama won a second term, and which party controls the House and the Senate.
However, the election produced a number of other interesting outcomes, not least of which is the overwhelming support for marriage equality in the four states in which this issue was on the ballot paper. The states of Maine, Maryland and Washington asked voters whether same-sex marriage should be legalised, and in each case a majority voted in favour of marriage equality. This is the first time that same-sex marriage has been endorsed by popular vote.