In Tunisia, following the first free election after the overthrow of the former dictatorship, the Islamist Ennahda Party that won 40 percent of the seats announced it would form a coalition government with one of the secular progressive parties.

The leader of the party sounded like Thomas Jefferson when he declared: "We will continue this revolution to realize its aims of a Free Tunisia, independent, developing and prosperous in which the rights of God, women, men, the religious and the non-religious are assured because Tunisia is for everyone."

The new leadership went so far as to say that being gay is "a matter of dignity":

Chaibi, who spent five years in prison for his opposition to dictator Ben Ali, said that in Tunisia "individual freedoms and human rights are enshrined principles" and that atheists and homosexuals are a reality in Tunisia and "have a right to exist," according to Think Progress.

It is one of several signs this week that suggest that new political and governance rules are taking root in Arab countries, and the heartening thing about this is that the rules are being written or guided by the citizens.

(READ the full story in the Daily Star)