I am proud to call myself a resident of California...

I have spent the last month highlighting organizations and festivals that support young media producers. From film festivals that showcase young filmmakers to an international NGO that teaches refugee youth how to express themselves through photography, this state is littered with amazing people supporting the next generation of truth speakers.

This culture of self-expression and acceptance is one of the many reasons that San Francisco, one of California's most progressive cities, hosts one of the worlds largest Gay Pride Celebrations. With the newly passed resolution overturning the ban on same sex marriages this year promises to be one of the largest celebrations yet. From Frameline, the world's largest LGBT film festival to this Sunday's Gay Pride parade the whole bay area has been waving their rainbow flags in support of love, tolerance and freedom.

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So what's the big deal about GAY marriage?  ... Maybe I just don't get it.

I grew up in what might be called a "diverse household", in Boise the capital city of Idaho, a fairly conservative town of about 220,000. My mother and Father divorced when I was three and my mother began dating women... No, this wasn't weird. It didn't startle me or freak me out. In fact, I can't remember a time when my mom wasn't open about being GAY, or,  a time when it was “normal” for my father to come home after a long day of work and embrace my mother who had just set dinner on the table…

Like anybody else my mother sought out partners that shared her values, lifestyle and love. My experience with these women was filled with care, understanding and joy.... for the most part ... and of course when things weren't going my way I used the same line that children have been using against step mother’s for thousands of years...

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This is Carl D. Brown with MTV’s Street Team 08’ checking in.

Wow, we are about five and a half months into this awesome experiment called Street Team 08’. I have been thrilled to watch our content spread from Think.MTV.com to MTV.com, MTV Tr3s, MTV, MTV U and The AP Video Network. As we all can see, hear and feel the digital revolution is changing the way we live and learn. I will argue that this change is for the better (disregard sleepless nights stuck in front of the computer editing stories for MTV.)

The ability of ordinary citizens to make and distribute media has had a profound effect on social justice and human equality both in the US and around the World. For the last five months I have been producing stories about ordinary Californians working hard to make their community, their block and their planet a nicer place to live.

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Last week San Francisco hosted the Chinese Olympic Torch Relay. San Francisco was the only US city chosen in North America to hold the Torch Relay. Over the last several weeks the Relay<