I’ve been traveling for work, so I haven’t had the opportunity to write about President Obama’s decision to evolve already and personally come out in support of marriage equality.

This is a tremendous step forward for equal rights in America. What the President of the United States thinks on an issue such as marriage equality has big impact on its progress in the political sphere. Already other Democratic elected officials have come out in favor of marriage equality since Obama’s announcement. As an issue position, it also will mean a lot to hundreds of thousands of gay Americans to know that this President now thinks they are deserving of equal rights as straight Americans.

Of course, while this is a hugely important step, it’s just one step, not the final destination of realized marriage equality in America. The President still needs to be pressured to take steps using executive power to further marriage equality – one example being the need to push forward an executive order banning contracting to companies which discriminate based on sexual identity. Additionally, the President needs to be pushed off of his bizarre and wrong stance that marriage equality should be determined in a state-by-state basis. Likewise, the administration should stop defending DOMA.

President Obama’s decision to finally (again) support gay marriage is an historic step and should be celebrated, but it is only a transitional victory. The transformative change of actually having marriage equality in America has not been achieved. I hope that President Obama becomes an active participant in the fight for marriage equality now that he personally supports it.