Watch: David Mixner, LGBT And Civil Rights Activist, Reflects On The Marriage Movement

David Mixner, an LGBT and civil rights activist and icon, tonight in a heart-warming speech reflected upon decades of the marriage movement, as he addressed an LGBT media event at Comcast’s Philadelphia headquarters.

READ: This Weekend: 2013 LGBT Media Journalists Convening

“What an extraordinary moment, for us to have arrived at, given our trail of tears and our struggle with AIDS and HIV,” Mixner — who was the first openly gay person on National Executive Committee of the Clinton for President campaign – reflected. “At the most difficult moments, we have so many reasons to be proud of what we’ve come out of. And we should never — no matter how successful we’ve become — forget that we are the offspring of some extraordinary heroic, powerful people, many of whom are no longer with us, but who should never, ever be forgotten by us.”

Mixner spoke to the crowd of about 100 LGBT journalists and activists at the opening night dinner of the 2013 LGBT Media Journalists Convening, which was sponsored by the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association and funded by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund.

Seated to Mixner’s left was long-time LGBT activist Cleve Jones, and to his right was the weekend event’s host, Bil Browning of the Bilerico Project.