Dear Mr. President,

This was a good speech. Thank you for taking the time to host a Pride celebration at the White House. I appreciate the presidential face time you have given to equality.

I won't pretend that I've been disappointed at the pace of progress in achieving our basic human rights: freedom to love, freedom from fear, freedom to dignity and equality.

I worked to elect you because I believe in these things. I believe that when it comes to our equality, silence is death. Speaking out against fear and stigma and hatred is a gift. So thank you for speaking out.

But please do more. Americans are still being kicked out of the military every day for being different. Your administration compared our relationships to polygamy and incest. Your press secretary shows remarkable silence and fear when it comes to addressing (the admittedly cowardly and straight-centric) media. And DOMA still prevents our marriages from counting in all but a handful of states.

Some say that the policy changes we are asking for are purely symbolic. But until we are no longer second-class citizens, until teenagers know that the taunts in the classroom aren't backed up by the framework of our laws, we will not be satisfied. In short, we will not be satisfied until we are given our full citizenship rights.

Thanks for the speech. I really liked it. I'll like it even more when discrimination is taken out of our laws and equal protections for all people are written in.

Sincerely,
Christopher