Every once in a while it is important for us to remember why we fight. To some of us, those of us who raise our voices every day in protest of the hatred we see in the world, the answer seems obvious. We fight for equality. But when one looks closer at that word, that reason, the rationale is not as easily defined as one would wish. Is it equality under the law? Equality in the eyes of our friends? Our families?

Every person has a reason why they fight this struggle for LGBT rights. Every person has a story that makes it that much more personal to them. I have a story. I have a dozen stories to tell you about why I fight every day for LGBT equality. I have another dozen stories for why I fight for racial equality, for class equality, for gender equality. I could tell a hundred thousand stories and they would all be different and they would all be the same.

But it all boils down to one simple thing. I, and all others who stand with me, fight for the recognition of every person’s dignity and inherent value.

Think about that for a second. Let it roll around in your head. Every person’s dignity and value. It’s not an easy concept – that every person has value.

That is why, to me, work on LGBT rights is inextricably intertwined with all other social justice movements. I am not just fighting for my dignity or your dignity but for the idea that each person has the same inherent dignity and value. That is equality.

When we win anti-discrimination laws, have a GSA in every school, an out politician in every statehouse, marriage equality in every state, the fight, for me, will have just begun. Legal recognition is the least of the battles. The greater battle has been fought, is being fought and will continue to be fought in the hearts of people throughout the world.

I fight for a world where all people are not just viewed under the law as equal, but where all people view all people as equal.

So long as a single sliver of inequality exists in the heart of just one person I will not stop fighting.

This is why I fight. Why do you?