Imagine this: A talented lesbian applies for a senior leadership position in city government. During the interview process, the focus is entirely on her very substantial experience and skills. When her appointment is announced in the media, much is made of the fact that she will become one of only two dozen female fire chiefs in the nation, but the only reference to her sexual orientation is a brief mention of her partner.

At the City Council meeting to confirm her appointment, the vote is unanimous, and not a single member of the public takes the podium to assert that lightning will strike the city for promoting a lesbian into senior management.

Wishful thinking? A few years ago it would have been, but today it is a reality. With little attention to her sexual orientation outside the LGBT community, Tracy Jarman was recently selected as the city of San Diego’s new fire chief.

Jarman’s appointment is a microcosm of the exciting crossroads at whichthe LGBT community finds itself, and of the theme of this year’s Pride celebration, “Equality! No Turning Back.” While issues like marriage equality get tossed back and forth on the whitecaps of law and politics, slowly – and without fanfare – members of the LGBT community take their places within the broader community.

Jarman’s appointment is only the most recent example of ways in which sexual orientation and gender identity issues have lost their thunder. Who could imagine that a lesbian would not only be chosen by her colleagues to serve as acting mayor during one of the most challenging periods ever faced by our city, as I was recently privileged to do, but that she would also be praised by the Union-Tribune for “a job well done under remarkably difficult circumstances.” Or that longtime community leader Nicole Murray-Ramirez would ascend to the position of international president of the International Court Council of the United States, Canada and Mexico and Queen Mother of the Americas, while at the very same time becoming chair of the San Diego Human Relations Commission.

Recently, M.E. Stephens, a respected member of both the transgender and the legal communities, announced he would be completing his alignment with his male identity and would henceforth be known as Mattheus. In the past, he would have reason to fear the response such an announcement would garner in professional circles. Instead, he has been thrilled to get nothing but warm wishes and support.

Even further out of the spotlight, members of our community participate more and more fully and openly in the life of the larger society. Not a day goes by that I don’t hear about a new baby joining one of our families, either through birth or through adoption. This past year, I was able to help The Center reach its goal of opening a permanent housing facility for homeless youth, many of whom have had no place to go since being rejected by their families. There, these youth will receive assistance so they can overcome the many personal challenges they face, complete their education and join the work force, finally taking their places alongside the other young people who represent the future of our society.

At the other end of life, many of our seniors find themselves alone and vulnerable due to the death of their partner and because they continue to be outsiders in their biological families. Plans under discussion to create housing facilities for LGBT seniors will help make the golden years as much a reality for our elders as they are for seniors outside the LGBT community.

But success for our community is not just about blending in or being treated the same, something that is brought home in the most fabulous way during Pride. A cornerstone of our success as a community has been the fact that we embrace all the diversity we represent. Having felt the sting of exclusion for so long, we exclude no one. We know that life flourishes when everyone gets to participate. As more and more of us take our places at the mainstream table, perhaps this is a lesson we can help the broader community learn.

This year’s Pride rallying cry is, “No turning back,” and the fight for equality will continue in the courts, in the halls of lawmaking and at the ballot box. But regardless of how our fortunes ebb and flow in these arenas, with the LGBT community so firmly established in the broader community, there really is just no going back.

City Councilmember Toni Atkins represents San Diego’s Third District.