An election of firsts

This election period has been rife with wonderful firsts — the first openly gay person, the first bisexual person elected and so on. Today, Sharon Chan reported that the first Iranian-American had been elected to the state Legislature [“Race and Politics: a cheat sheet,” Opinion, Nov. 14], a noteworthy moment.

I find myself amused about all the firsts ahead of us. Not counting the U.S., there are 195 countries in the world, most of whom have no doubt sent immigrants to America. This should keep fact-checkers and editorial writers busy for elections to come.

I wonder when we will have grown up enough as a nation to see beyond ethnicity and sexual orientation and other such attributes to report on qualifications that matter.

— Caroline Feiss, Seattle