This has been a truly amazing day for Americans. Watching such a peaceful transfer of so much power is always an awe inspiring thing, but this year the Inauguration had even more meaning for us all. It was a chance to put the horrors of government sanctioned racism and discrimination even further into the past, to show that as a country we've come such a long way in the last half century, no matter the distance still to go.
It was also an incredible day because it meant an end, at long last, to the worst and most dangerous administration in United States history. It came over me slowly, as I watched President Obama being sworn in and then began to listen to his incredible Inaugural address: Pride. Pride, first of all, that we once again have a President who can actually speak eloquently. The feeling went far beyond that, though. I realized that while I've never stopped loving this country and being grateful to be an American, I've been truly, deeply ashamed of our Government and their actions for such a long time now.
To suddenly feel such a sense of pride again felt beyond amazing. To see Bush & Cheney heading out of town and to know that they're no longer in a position to try and destroy the Constitution felt even better.
Obama still has to prove himself to me as President. I'm not going to give him a free pass just because he's a Democrat and isn't George W. Bush. But today, I am proud. Today, the President of the United States is a man I respect and not a man I think should be tried for war crimes. Amazing!
It makes it even better to read that just seconds after Obama was sworn in, the official White House web site was updated to include a list of his commitments to LGBT rights!
What else is there to say, except that this was truly a day of change and of hope? As much as those words have been thrown around by the campaigns and the media in the past year, today truly brought them to life for me.
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