This week, we feature a wonderful interview with a true trailblazer for GLBT rights, Ellen DeGeneres. In 1997 when DeGeneres appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, it was a moment of huge importance for our community.

Over the next few weeks leading up to San Diego Pride, we are going to be reflecting a great deal on the 40 years since the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, which sparked the modern gay civil rights movement. This year’s Pride theme, Stonewall 2.0: The Next Generation, will give us all a great deal of opportunity to look back over the amazing path our community has taken. Needless to say, many of the liberties, freedoms, rights, and privileges – and their accompanying responsibilities – have been hard won, and are well deserved.

It will also give us an opportunity to look forward to what each of us can do to make sure that all Americans, including the GLBT community, enjoy the same freedoms.

But, while we reminisce about the last 40 years, we also want to pause and focus on this last year and say, “What a difference a year makes.”

This time last year, we had a Democratic candidate storming through a general election with a platform that included repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and defeating the federal Defense of Marriage Act. While then-candidate, now-President Barack Obama did, in fact, sign into law a number of provisions for federal employees, he did not include health benefits. At a time when the national dialogue is focused on covering every American with health benefits, we are sadly disappointed.

We are disappointed in the president’s lack of action on DADT and DOMA.

Finally, we are disappointed, in particular, that the administration has not repealed a Bush-era block against those with HIV who wish to enter the United States. This does not require Congress to act. With a stroke of a pen, the president has the power to remind the country that those who live with HIV are not pariahs. As it stands now, conferences on HIV/AIDS that include international representatives who are HIV positive cannot be held in the U.S. without those individuals lying on their entry forms.

This time last year, we had marriage equality. Yes, we knew it was going to be on the ballot in November, but for the time being, at least, we had a taste of true equality. And 18,000 couples exercised their right to it. While, sadly, those rights were taken from us in November, a vote upheld by the California Supreme Court, we have some solace in knowing that those marriages that were performed are protected and recognized.

This time last year, we had a thriving S.A.G.E. Center (Seniors Active in a Gay Environment). This organization, established in 1980, has brought dignity and awareness to the issues that face seniors in our community. Last week, S.A.G.E. had to close its doors due to lack of funding.

This time last year, we had a youth housing project, providing affordable, supportive housing for youth between the ages of 18-24 years of age, with a special emphasis on GLBTQ youth. That program is in jeopardy due to lack of funding. The housing project is run by The Center, which has gone through several series of staff reductions because of lack of funding, with another round of cuts happening just last week.

And, finally, the governor has recently announced that due to a massive financial deficit, HIV funding likely will be drastically reduced. Programs being targeted include the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides affordable medications to HIV-positive individuals, along with HIV-awareness and -prevention funding.

Oh, what a difference a year makes.

But we must not let these disappointments, these losses, go to waste. We must learn from them. We believe they hold lessons. The greatest lesson is that each and every one of us has a mandate. Each and every one of us is charged to be the next generation of Stonewall.

We must remember that every vote counts. We must remember that when others take from us, we can band together and give to one another. We must remember to raise our voices before it is too late. We must remember not to allow ourselves – our votes, our community, our resources – to be taken for granted.

As we head into Pride season and reflect on the last 40 years, perhaps we can borrow a charge from another great leader who saw a time of strife and a need for personal responsibility.

“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Today, these words ring as true as they did when John F. Kennedy said them in 1961.

Similarly, we must ask not what our community can do for us, but what we can do for our community.