lightbox.time.com – By Katy Steinmetz
During their long fight to legalize gay marriage, advocates found that their most powerful tool of persuasion was gay and lesbian people themselves. As America got to know the two dads or two moms who live next door, it became easier to see them as a set of neighbors like any other. In this gallery of portraits by Gillian Laub, you’ll meet people who are ready to tell their own stories in service of the nation’s next battle for civil rights: the T in LGBT.