The question we must address is whether, under these circumstances, the failure to designate the official relationship of same-sex couples as marriage violates the California Constitution.

In 2000, too young to vote, my stomach sank when the Knight Initiative [Added: Proposition 22] — a marriage ban written by a man with a gay son — and an "anti-gang" measure sure to disproportionately target young people of color passed in California.

Organizing around the marriage ban those initiatives was one of my introductions to the world of activism. Now the Supreme Court of my home state has ruled the ban unconstitutional!

Sometimes it's hard to step up and be a leader within your campus or community. We second-guess our skills and abilities, are confronted with a lack of resources, and continually struggle within our groups to decide how best to make our world a better place.

This is a problem that all leaders, be they young or old have had to face. I once read a quote from the great leader and former president Abraham Lincoln that went " I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day." Feelings of helplessness and isolation afflict the best of us from time to time and perhaps that's one of the reasons why it feels so cathartic to be here at the YP4 summit.