I'm so moved when I see everyday Americans standing together, against all odds, to make their lives and communities better - whether it's organizing against big factories polluting their air or against big banks corrupting our economy and political system.

But perhaps the next step isn't to, once again, expand the otherwise narrow definition of marriage but to altogether abolish the false distinction between married families and other equally valid but unrecognized partnerships.

What haven't I been called? Every antigay, misogynist, anti-Semitic, anti-liberal smear you can think of. I don't think I can transform those smears; I can't even repeat them! But I proudly embrace the identities beneath them.

The fire in the bellies of the good people who work for a more fair and just world for all of us - that spark never fails to inspire me and warm my heart.

Our challenge is to find the compassion for others that we want them to have for us.

We are worse off - all of us, including men and boys - if our society is not developing and empowering 100% of the resources of humanity, including women and girls.

I think racial justice - and addressing the sick and enduring legacy of structural racism - remains one of the greatest challenges of our time, and one that's particularly important for more and more white people to speak up about.