When it comes to defining equality, former Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz Walsh does not mince words: "It means everybody gets access to the same rights, privileges and responsibilities."

Walsh stands up for GLBT equality "because others stood up for me so I could have access to so many rights, like interracial marriage. It's my turn now to stand up with the gay and lesbian community to secure all of the rights, including marriage, that are available to the rest of us."

As one of the four Multnomah County Commissioners who bravely ushered in marriage equality for its brief stint in Oregon, Walsh knows what creating equality looks like in real terms. "I knew it was right to issue marriage licenses," she says, "but to witness what it was like for families changed my life."

She has also seen what discrimination looks like. The first time she witnessed discrimination against a gay person was as a student at Lewis & Clark College. She recalls having lunch with a friend who was becoming more flamboyant in his dress as part of his coming out process. "People started throwing food at him," says Walsh. "It was a rock-my-world moment."

A few decades later, when, as she says, she "had the opportunity and responsibility" to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Multnomah County, she knew it was a big step forward. She remembers asking one of the shivering couples standing outside the county building how long they had been waiting in the cold, one woman replied, "Twenty-two years."

"I can't tell you how sad I was when the courts took that away," says Walsh. "It is incumbent on all of us to join in this fight."