Today is a great day for anyone who dreams of equality.  We celebrate the Martin Luther King holiday and the second inauguration of our first African American President.  The day I was born my parents could not have imagined a day that an African American would be president, or that the minority leader would be female, or the Supreme Court Justice swearing in the Vice President would be a Hispanic female, or that the President would speak openly about equality for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.

As I listened I could not help but imagine the beauty that will exist in 50 more years.  We will be a nation where women make as much as men for the same work.  We will be a nation that welcomes immigrants and gives all those who come here to work a path to citizenship.  We will be a nation that treats lesbians, gays, and transgendered with dignity and all the rights of everyone else.  We will be a nation that doesn’t abort our babies.  We will be nation that doesn’t shoot our children.  We will be a more perfect nation.

It is a great day to be a citizen of the United States.