Reply #22: Having the power (and will) to end institutional barriers to equality ...

[frazzled]

is the crux of the matter however. Of course these accomplishments stand on the shoulders of generations of activists who sway public opinion.

But there were abolitionists for many years before Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and fought a war to end slavery. Without those presidential actions, slavery would remain a legal institution despite the abolitionists' efforts. There were civil rights activists for many years as well. But Jim Crow and discrimination would remain legal, institutional practices had Johnson not signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, despite the efforts of valiant civil rights activists.

It takes both activists and legislators to in tandem--the former pushing and educating, the latter making laws in the land--to further justice.

And yes, it's a big fucking deal that no other president in the history of this nation has ever done shit for the LGBT community.