This past weekend, thousands of gay rights activists gathered in Washington, D.C., to participate in the National Equality March to demand equal rights for those who identify themselves as part of the LGBT community.

It truly is remarkable how many privileges the heterosexual community is afforded simply for being heterosexual.

As a straight woman, I was afforded the privilege of legally being allowed to marry my husband of three years, and have our marriage celebrated, not condemned.

If we choose to hold hands when we walk down the street or kiss each other goodbye in public, we are privileged not to have people gawk, stare or judge us.

When I display a picture of the two of us on my work desk, I am privileged to not have to worry about how this is perceived by others. I also do not have to fear that I will be fired because I am heterosexual.

If my husband were to be hospitalized for a serious condition, I have the privilege and right as his wife to visit him. Every April, we have the privilege of filing our tax return together.

The list of other privileges I am afforded as a straight woman who is in a relationship with a man goes on and on.

But what if I didn’t identify myself as a straight woman and chose my life partner to be another woman? Would I be any less of a woman than I am today? Would I not still be the same human being?

Unfortunately, according to our society, the answer is no. I would not be allowed to get married, file a joint tax return, join the military, or visit my sick partner in the hospital.

In many cases, including here at the University of Georgia, I would not be allowed to share in all of my partner’s benefits, including health insurance coverage.

I might very well have a strong fear of being physically assaulted, verbally abused, and be judged and labeled by my sexuality. I might even feel that I must conform to society’s unwritten heterosexual norms of the way to dress, speak, and behave.

This is no way to live, yet this is very much the reality that many of our LGBT community members experience every single day.

Members of the LGBT community are just as important, just as equal, just as valued, just as much of our society, pay just as much taxes, and are just as much of human beings as the heterosexual community.

Yet they are still treated like second-class citizens here in the U.S.

I realize that change and reform in our society are often met with opposition. This certainly was the case with women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights movement, and even today with health care reform.

But it’s time that we step up and stop pretending that gay rights is not an important issue because it is. By maintaining the status quo, we are showing the world that we support the marginalization of a minority group, which is just wrong.

So I’m using my privilege as a heterosexual woman to stand up for gay rights, to put an end to discrimination and to demand equality in our society.

Equality for all is a principle I live by, and I hope that you live by this principle too.

- Betsy Brafman Alpert is a graduate student from Cincinnati studying school counseling.