Peniel Joseph's insightful post last week on equality smartly notes that on January 20th, "the very aesthetics of American democracy changed, both symbolically and substantively, through the ascension of a black man to the nation's highest office." It is the power of that image, and that ideal, that infused the week of inaugural activities from President Obama's address, to the first dance at each inaugural ball to the signing of each new executive order. This was a moment that much of America saw itself reflected back to itself from its leaders, a break from a history of white, primarily Protestant, Brahmin men, a triumph of meritocracy as well as the civil rights movement and perhaps the biggest push towards embracing a nation-wide movement of service to volunteerism in our history. A government by the people and for the people was finally of the people.

And yet amidst those cautious words of hope, I couldn't help but think of the continued economic, social, and tax marginalization of a group of Americans who were cast aside - particularly by this election and the presidential one before it. If we are to address community and equality in the Obama era, the legacy of this election's homophobic statewide ballot initiatives must be redressed through both legislative means and the President's bully pulpit. In the glow of our embryonic racial stabilization, it seems almost churlish to mention, and yet to not do so would be to undermine our communal path towards equality.

It is true President Obama has a window now to push those who have felt disaffected and disenfranchised towards national service. He acknowledged as much in his inaugural address:

"...Those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

President Obama wraps well the idea of a fully realized and equal citizenry with the ideal of what the citizenry owes to each other, to the greater good, and to the country. The ideal is that we have not arrived at our peak, but are merely staring up at the summit, finally equipped with the tools to continue - a rallied and engaged population, one that no longer feels - at least in these first glorious moments - as marginalized as it did before November 4th. (Though of course all of that is a bit of an exaggeration as those images of our new President signing executive orders in his first days underscored, all those standing around him remain those white, primarily Protestant men, who have long ruled Washington.) But that there is a "price" as well as a "promise" of citizenship- in other words, the more government becomes what we have requested of it, the more we are required to contribute to keep the ball rolling in that good direction.

Some may feel it's too much to ask - address our storied and deep pain of racial inequality and other inequalities as well? And yet, not to do so would be a disservice to the ideal of a more complete union. For America that means approaching logical immigration reform, addressing our racial divisions beyond black and white. It also means coming to terms with the war on gay men and lesbians in America.

The fissures in American society cut many ways, but in the last thirty years, and particularly in the last five, the movement towards gay rights in America and the codification of a second class citizenry for the unions of gay men and lesbians state-by-state has become an expected byproduct of the culture-wars. When we allow states to rescind the right to marry, when we allow states to deprive loving homes of children, when we set up one type of union over another as "right," we have failed as a community and we have failed in our ideals of equality. This is a frontier that the Obama era must address - from the military to the family, from the school to the statehouse - for our union to be more perfect.