On August 4, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Proposition 8 wrongly denied marriage rights to LGBT couples. On Aug. 12, he ruled that marriage ceremonies could resume as early as this week. Unfortunately, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled that decision on Aug. 16 and now same-sex marriages in California may not resume before the end of this year.

It’s understandable that people are frustrated and discouraged and feel they’re being treated like second-class citizens. Will our freedom to marry be postponed indefinitely?

By stepping back from the rollercoaster of the last two weeks, our community will see that our struggle for equality has never been easy. Whether it is protection from police harassment, access to life saving medications, or the right to serve openly in the military – we have always endured a difficult path. Nothing has come easily to the LGBT community in its fight for equal rights. But the one thread weaving through our struggle is that progress is being made. It may be slow and constantly challenged, but the progress is real and it’s made significant changes to our quality of life.

When police raids of gay bars were common in the 1960s, it spawned the Stonewall uprising in New York and similar protests across the country. Today, the police in San Diego are often viewed as allies of our community, as illustrated by the department’s hiring of ‘out’ officers and its swift arrest of attackers at the 2006 Pride festival.

When AIDS started to decimate the community in the early 1980s, people were denied dignified care in clinics and hospitals out of fear and ignorance about the virus. Today, people with HIV and AIDS are living longer and healthier lives and have greater access to related programs and services.

When the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that marriage rights should be granted to LGBT couples, it triggered a wave of discriminatory lawsuits and legislation, highlighted by passage of the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. Today, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender couples may legally marry in the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

These examples reinforce advancements our community has sustained as we move along the arc of triumph. I have always praised the resiliency and courage of LGBT people in the face of harassment, violence, and discrimination. We have achieved tremendous rights in housing, employment, and health care in just the last 30 years and the right to marry will be granted to us, too.

Your passion and work for marriage equality is impressive and it will be rewarded. Now, we watch as the legal system helps move us forward on that path to freedom. In the interim, I urge you to remain optimistic and continue talking with friends and family about the need for marriage rights, because that’s a conversation that must take place regardless of what happens in the courtroom.