We've come so far in the last three and a half decades I'm not sure even Harvey Milk himself would believe it if he were alive today.
In fact we've come so far since 1997, the year both Ellen DeGeneres and I came out of the closet, I'm still not sure *I* believe it.
The teevees are awash with gay story-lines, characters, and even whole shows.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been struck down, and homosexuals are now serving openly in the military.
Same sex marriage has been ordained in eleven states, either by judicial, legislative, or popular decree.
And this year Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin became the first openly gay person to be elected to the US Senate, giving us a voice in the highest legislative body in the land. As Ms. Baldwin herself said,
"If you are not in the room, the conversation is about you. If you are in the room, the conversation is with you. We never had an openly LGBT member of the U.S. Senate, and even though there are strong pro-equality allies who serve there, it has always been a conversation about a group of people. So this changes everything.”We are now full fledged, indivisible, participants of that conversation. And we will look back on 2012 as the year we became true stake-holders in the American Dream, the year "hope" became a reality.
We couldn't have done it without you, Mr. Milk. Thank you for giving us hope.
