What did you do for Valentine's Day? If you were lucky, you got to participate in a revolution.

Across the country, gay couples and their allies stepped up to marriage counters around the country to ask for licenses. Some were turned away, some were arrested, and all will be back every year until we all have the freedom to marry.

I'd watched these rallies in past years and always felt that they were moving. This year, I wanted to make sure they were documented as part of my work the fight for equality with Stop8.org. So I contacted organizers in nearly thirty different cities from coast to coast, asking them if they could assign someone to videotape.

The response was fantastic -- in nearly every city, I found someone who could supply footage. But we had to move fast. The demonstrators' arrest paperwork was still warm on Monday night when we started our flurry of uploading, file transfers, and even one overnight Fed-Ex of mini-DV tapes.

In San Francisco, a chorus sang as people were arrested by openly sympathetic cops. It was sunny at a rally in Albuquerque, and blustery at a spiritual ceremony in New York. Chicago protesters sat in the marriage office for six hours, and San Antonio couples joined a mass wedding alongside straight couples.

Why is this so important? Because it's easy to lose sight of our greatest strength: a shared bond that can span thousands of miles. From the small group of protesters in tiny Bellefonte, Pennsylvania to the massive crowd in East Los Angeles, we all stand together when we stand for what's right.

Even though the queer community is spread out all over the world, we're all a part of the same big huge wonderful loving family. I can't think of better company for Valentine's Day.