Barack Obama and Joe Biden have unveiled their plan to strengthen civil rights, including support for the LGBT community. According to the Office of the President-elect, Obama plans to expand hate crimes statutes, and though there's no specific details about what the new administration will do on that front moving forward, Obama's record as an Illinois State senator is clear: He helped expand hate-crime legislation in the state. He also supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and believes that there should be a federal legal remedy to discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace.

While both Obama and Vice President-elect Biden do not support redefining "marriage," they do support full civil unions with all of the federal rights afforded to straight married couples. Separate but equal, some might say, but a step in the right direction. Obama opposed Proposition 8 in California, wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, is against a Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and wants to expand adoption rights.

In an effort to avoid the mistakes made by President Bill Clinton in the early '90s, Obama aims to repeal the U.S Military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy by working with military leaders on the issue. The next president also plans to promote AIDS prevention by implementing more than just an abstinence-first agenda, using common-sense approaches to contraception and even supporting more taboo issues like contraception education in the prison system and lifting the federal ban on needle exchange.

Now here's where I start preaching. It's nice to have a progressive voice in the Oval Office, but it our responsibility to hold Obama and Biden accountable and make sure they live up to their promises, particularly on these issues. For more information, check out the official Office of the President-elect transition website.