While we each have our own religious and/or spiritual beliefs and holiday traditions, this time of year provides us all with the opportunity to think about the year that has passed, and begin to look forward to the year ahead.

The December holiday season – no matter which holiday you celebrate – is also a time for us to remember what is important and what we value. For many, the holidays provide time to gather with family and good friends, especially those we see too rarely. For others, it is a time to focus less upon ourselves and more upon an attitude of gratitude and generosity of spirit. This is the season when many focus on giving to others, particularly those with less resources and opportunities.

At The Center, we are fortunate to both benefit from and bear witness to our community’s generosity and we remain deeply appreciative of all those who support the work of The Center and other organizations in our community. We are grateful for the commitments of time, talent, resources and energy that thousands of LGBT San Diegans make every year. They ensure that The Center continues to be a place for our community to gather together and connect to services and information, and that those who are less fortunate have some of the resources that they desperately need.

When I think about all the ways our LGBT community gives to and supports our organizations and each other, and the depth of our collective commitment to provide for those who are less fortunate, I am incredibly proud of our community. And I can’t help but think – aren’t these long-standing commitments and this incredible spirit of generosity the living embodiment of the “moral values” we have been hearing so much about from the political arena?

We have families, we act compassionately, we show commitment and responsibility and give of ourselves through service. I, too, am a values voter. If I had been asked by an exit pollster in the November election, I would have said I was voting on values too!

When I survey the lives and leadership provided by so many in our community, for ourselves, and for others, it seems it is way past due for us to claim our ground on these values issues. We should not be afraid to own for ourselves the language of responsibility, family or values. We can, and should, participate in this country’s discussion about what is right and fair, and what is wrong and unjust.

For example, we cannot cede the ground of “family values.” I am a daughter. I am a parent. I am a partner. All over this country and in our community, countless numbers of LGBT parents work hard every day and have thoughtfully, deliberately and carefully planned to have their children. By and large, they are raising them to care for others, to be respectful of difference, and to contribute to their community. These are the “values” of family: commitment, care, duty to protect and thoughtful parenting. Our parents struggle daily, more than many, to embrace those values despite the obvious obstacles, and we should applaud their success and those of their children.

Moreover, LGBT people of faith lead their churches and synagogues, attend worship services, support their mosques and temples, and do their best to serve their communities through their faith. Religion, faith and morality should not and cannot be owned by a small band of zealots who would impose upon all of us a narrow and graceless version of God.

Especially during this holiday season, when many of us will be going home and spending time with others who may not understand our community, it is perhaps more important than it’s ever been that we communicate our values and our community’s commitment to them. We can help them see our dream of a fair, peaceful and just world, a world that honors family and friends, that respects people of faith and that is committed to providing for those who have less. We can also help them come to know the thousands and thousands of LGBT Americans who struggle each day to live that rightly lived life and are committed to those values.