Equality for all.

Equality. Say it out loud. Seriously, don't just read it in your head. Say it out loud. Let it roll off your tongue slowly, almost sensuously. Equality.

It's an intoxicating notion, to be sure. The idea that we're all given the respect and the rights we deserve. A Utopian society where every citizen is granted the same base human rights as their neighbor. It's intoxicating, and completely and utterly fantastic. But right now, it's just that- a fantasy.

We have the power to change that, though.

This struggle is about more than just marriage rights for LGBQT individuals. It goes beyond me wanting to be able to marry the woman of my dreams. It goes beyond watching my best friend, who came out at the tender age of 11, be able to be with his partner and be granted every right his straight friends and family have. It goes beyond my aunt having been able to make inclusive retirement and life plan with her then-partner of decades.

It boils down to the ineffable right that every citizen should have to be happy, to be free to plan comfortably for the future, to be able to love whom they choose and create the family they so deeply desire.

Gay marriage will not rend the pillars of society asunder; quite the contrary, it will reinforce them and build them up. We as a people became stronger when we abolished slavery. We as a people became stronger when we abolished segregation. We the people became stronger when we encouraged both a woman and a black man to run for president. We the people became stronger when we abolished the don't ask, don't tell policy in our armed forces.

We the people will become stronger when we grant the LGBQT community the same rights that their heterosexual loved ones have, because we will be empowering our citizens. Our government will be saying "Here, have this. Live this. Live your lives the way you please, which is the philosophy our country was founded on."

By "radically" changing the definitions of a legal family, we will be simply returning to our basic roots as a people.

We need this advancement. It's just the reform that our country needs. A reminder that the roots we come from are the ever-lasting search for the ability to reach for the stars, or in some cases, the bouquets.