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Finally, Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 44th president.  The man has more hopes riding on his presidency than, perhaps, any other president has in history.

Will he live up to it? His tone so far has been moderate, despite liberals hoping they’d finally get a real-life West Wing presidency, and conservatives hoping they’d have a leftist democrat to rally their base around.  It looks like neither is going to get their wish… yet anyway.

As a gay man, I find Obama’s brand of hope a frustrating mix.  On one hand, he talks about equal rights for gays and lesbians, and says he’s going to be repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  On the other, he says he only recognizes marriages between men and women.

The idea of our first black president endorsing separate but equal for a minority group is sad, but I think gay Americans feel that he’s the best hope for getting things on the road to equality.