My mission, I guess, has always been the kind of world where Lesbian and Gay people can celebrate who we are with equal freedom, dignity, and respect.

And let's not make any mistake, or gloss over that fact: Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are at risk every day of their lives. Not only are we the group most at risk of violence, we are most at risk of job discrimination, losing our families; homophobia retains its title as the last socially acceptable form of bigotry.

Everyday, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in Wales avoid public spaces and places where they feel they can't express themselves. They often don't get the services they need because they won't tell the police, their doctor, teacher, youth worker, housing provider, parent, or church leader about being lesbian or gay because they anticipate being badly treated. Worse, if they do inform people that they are lesbian or gay and need service delivery to take that into account, often the response is 'We don't need to know that, we treat everyone the same'.

I just don't think he understands how dehumanizing his comments were to gay and lesbian people and how hurtful they were to gay and lesbian students. This is the best we're going to get from Tom Lynch. It's more of an explanation than an apology.

It's important for people to know that gay and lesbian parents are here, that they exist, that they are raising children and that we, like all parents, want to participate in the great traditions of this country.

Once this law takes effect, gay and lesbian couples legally partnered anywhere in the world will have domestic partnerships, civil unions, or marriages recognized automatically.