Just wanted to say, I've noticed a lot of people -- not on this forum specifically, but friends -- feeling deflated today. When you get to the top of a mountain, it's easy to look across the horizon and see all the other ones waiting to be scaled. It's easy to not find satisfaction in the work that you've done as a citizen fighting, in your own way, for the cause you believe in, and become bogged down in just how many challenges are out there, waiting to be tackled, with a depth and breath of complexity no less intimidating than the cause for LGBT issues.
I recommend anyone feeling this way, to recognize just how much impact they have made. On this forum, thanks to well-moderated, civil, intelligent discourse, minds get changed on a daily basis. What's hard to do isn't particularly passing laws; it's convincing ordinary people that the laws that need to be passed are the right thing to do. Anyone who has been involved in this and have served in the cause ought to take some satisfaction today. It doesn't matter to me if you've been in the streets protesting, walking in pride parades, or if you had that clash on Facebook where you made your feelings known -- if you, at any time, spent your time donating your mind, words or heart to the cause in any way, this victory belongs in part to you. It also belongs to the many LGBT individuals out there who have waited patiently for this process -- and engaged directly in this process -- to make it a reality.
It's sometimes easy to think that the small things we do on a daily basis don't matter in the long run. I, and many of my friends, are proof that this is not true -- minds can be changed, and effort you expend in doing the right thing can become the very anchor others use to involve themselves in a fight for what is good.
So while congratulations ought to go worldwide for these things, I want to point out GAFfers specifically and say -- congratulations. Your words and deeds matter, and you change minds. And that's worth not just some satisfaction today -- be prideful. You've all earned it. And get ready to scale more mountains.