The Office of the Press Secretary has released President Obama's proclamation for June to be observed as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT...

Several have noted the president's unapologetic tone in his second inaugural address. With the whole world watching, it was a call to action to end discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans. For that we can be proud. I know I am.

With one thundering line President Obama gave recognition to the commonality of our civil rights struggles, from women's suffrage to African-American civil rights to LGBT equality. He took the LGBT community's fight for equality and folded it completely into the fabric of what America means.

By referring to the Stonewall riots in the same sentence as Seneca Falls and Selma, Obama put the LGBT rights struggle within the context of the great civil rights movements in American history. When the first African-American president says that discrimination is discrimination, that is profound.

We think it's time that Obama use his authority to demonstrate that the federal government will finally begin to offer LGBT Americans equal treatment under the law by enacting executive orders, amending existing ones and promoting legislation that sets a government-wide precedent for equality.

We all know that Election Day, including the reelection of President Obama, was historic for LGBT Americans. Now we need to translate those results into tangible, concrete change.

My mother raised me right. I have always looked beyond my own life to have compassion for others. Even considering my own interests, I find that there are reasons to have voted Democratic in this election other than feminism and LGBT equality.

With so much hate continually aimed at the LGBT community, we like to take a moment every once in a while to highlight some of the good news we featur...

I asked 10 of America's top LGBT leaders what they are thinking. From GLAAD to HRC to GetEQUAL, leaders from some of the most active organizations, along with independent and grassroots activists and opinion shapers, shared with me their thoughts and plans for "Obama 2.0."

What a difference four years make! In the progress of social justice movements, it's rare to see change happen this quickly, but the tide of LGBT civil rights has turned. Tuesday's election is historic for everyone who supports our country's principles of freedom and justice.

The arc of the moral universe bent a bit more toward justice on Tuesday. The president helped move the issue of LGBT equality forward -- and his reelection campaign was helped by moving it along, too. There's a new conventional wisdom: LGBT equality is a winning issue.

When Obama says he'll fight for your family, he means all our families -- including LGBT families. Today we celebrate the reelection of a president who has not only given us change we can believe in but who has given us progress to take heart in.

We're used to hiding: hiding externally to protect ourselves from the hostility of others, and hiding in our own heads from reminders of a world that rejects us. But times have changed. President Obama has come out in support of us. We have to come out in support of ourselves, too.

Some people may think it odd that the person I'm closest to in my family, my sister, is a Republican -- and not just any Republican. She has informed me of each time the Romneys have visited her home, and she told me that she will be with them in Boston on election night.

If all the many millions of LGBT Americans vote this year, 2012 will be the year that we liberated ourselves from oppression while also liberating America in many ways. With one vote, one year, we will pull together to protect all political minorities and the very ideals of our nation.

As an American who was employed at the UN for 20 years, I would add to the president's long list of accomplishments his advocacy for LGBT persons residing beyond our nation's borders. Since Obama took office the U.S. has become a key player in the global fight for LGBT rights.

The Jewish community has been involved in every major civil rights fight in American history. We know that those who marginalize and diminish any minority group should put us all on alert. The struggle for LGBT equality is no different.

I personally support Barack Obama for president of the United States. I have studied him since 1996, and I have watched him do what he says, even when the tasks are very hard. He has more to do, and he deserves more time to complete his agenda.

I want for my son what all mothers want. I want him to grow up into a happy, healthy adult. I want him to find a career where he can thrive. I want him to find someone awesome to love who loves him right back. But all those things will be in jeopardy if Mitt Romney becomes president.

How did it come to be that lesbians and gays still have to contort themselves to fit into some straight mold? An undeniable factor is leadership. The LGBT community lives in a world that has been designed by and for straight people -- or straight white males.

When will you stand up and speak out for the equal rights and treatment of working-class LGBT Americans the way you and your fellow Democrats address the concerns of LGBT millionaire donors? How much longer must working-class LGBT Americans patiently wait?

It may finally be the case that "gay" has turned a corner and is no longer the wedge issue it once was, or that we may at least be close to seeing both sides of the aisle realize that they need to accept what the majority of the country already accepts.

The primary stumbling block between us is the fact that I am gay and Mitt is a Mormon. I know where his heart lies. I couldn't possibly vote for someone who might govern for his religion first and will never support my right to enjoy the freedoms that everyone in our country wishes for.

There is an empty chair in my living room every night when I get home from work. Her empty chair. And in spite of the grief and loss it represents, it trumps Clint Eastwood's empty chair, because I am, in point of fact, so much better off in so many ways than I was four years ago.