A note from Brian H.:

Dear Mr. President -

I don’t know that you will see this response, yet I hope you will.

I can’t begin to tell you what it means to me to hear these words come from my President. I never dared to hope that the leader of my country would ever affirm aloud what I must re-affirm daily in the face of increasingly shrill and pointedly hateful opposition.

Thank you for saying out loud words that you support our lives and loves. Thank you for saying out loud words that convey the value of our families. Thank you for saying out loud words that unequivocally affirm us, support us, nourish us, validate us.

Thank you for saying out loud, from the position of national leadership, words that need to be said, heard and instructive to those who punish us for being who we are, loving who we love, and desiring to define, defend and provide for OUR families, just like everyone else.

Thank you, Mr. President, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

“An anonymous coworker—to this day, I don’t know who—had left a pencil-written note on a torn piece of paper with some numbers on it. It showed how much more my male coworkers were making, even though they had less education, training and experience.

I’d been at Goodyear almost 20 years, and was still making 20 percent less than the lowest-paid male supervisor in my same position. I’d been praised and promoted by my bosses, but rewarded with much smaller raises than my male coworkers got.

It hit me in the gut like a ton of bricks. I immediately thought of the countless overtime hours that I worked every chance I could, and realized I was paid for them based on an unfair salary. All those good days of work hadn’t earned me the good day’s pay I deserved.

It was about fairness, and it was against the law.”

—Lilly Ledbetter writing in the Charlotte Observer today. Three years ago, President Obama made a fair pay act that bears her name the first bill he signed into law as president.