President Obama's embrace of gay marriage in May earned him praise as The First Gay President in a Newsweek cover story by Andrew Sullivan.

It sounds like Obama is just warning up.

On Monday, he set a historic new standard for an inauguration speech, invoking "our gay brothers and sisters" and comparing Stonewall riots to Senaca Falls and Selma, touchstone moments in women's rights and the civil rights movement.

States have led the way in ending disparate civil and legal protections for gay Americans, with Washington State in the vangard. In Obama's well-received speech, I heard a long-overdue call for activism from the Oval Office.

Public opinion on gay marriage has flipped, as we proved in November.

Speeches are inspiration, not action. Obama took the first steps toward ending a discriminatory public policy with repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Let's hold him to his words: it's time to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act.