After meeting with President Obama and speaking to a joint session of the United States Congress, Prime Minister Gordon Brown returned home to host in Number 10 Downing Street a reception for the LGBT leaders of Great Britain. The event was the second function in about six months. In October, First Lady Brown hosted a luncheon in my honor in the State Dining Room of Number 10 with about two dozen UK LGBT leaders.

The Browns 'get it'. They know that the LGBT community is an intergal part of the governing coalition of the Labor Party. They 'get it' so much so that at the second event, Prime Minister Brown spoke elegontly against California's Proposition 8. As quoted in Towleroad.com the Prime Minister said,

"I was in America yesterday and I know you will be sorry I didn't bring Barack Obama back. He is coming soon. But what I saw in America told me what we have to do. This Proposition 8, this attempt to undo the good that has been done. This attempt to create divorces among 18,000 people who were perfectly legally brought together in partnerships, this is unacceptable and shows me why we always have to be vigilant, why we have always got to fight homophobic behaviour and any form of discrimination."

That is a stronger statement on Proposition 8 than almost any American elected official since the hideous proposition won last November.

If we needed further proof of how entrenched the LGBT community has become in British politics, Pink News just picked the 50 most powerful gay, lesbian and bisexual people in England. Just look at the top ten and their titles and see how far we have to go in the United States:

1. Baron Peter Mandelson (In the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform).
2. MP Nick Brown (Labor Party's Chief Whip)
3. Nick Herbert (Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment)
4. Angela Eagle (Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury)
5. Evan Davis (Presenter, "Today" program on BBC Radio)
6. Ben Bradshaw (In Cabinet as Minister of State for Health Services)
7. Nick Boles (Candidate for MP on Conservative Slate and Inner Circle of Conservative Leader David Cameron)
8. Ray Collins (General Secretary of the Labor Party)
9, MP Chris Bryant (Deputy Leader of the House of Commons)
10. Margot James (Conservative Candidate for MP and a Deputy Chairperson of the Conservative Party).