Next Tuesday, a biracial man who self-identifies as African-American will take the oath of office as the 44th president of the United States.

Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn into office the day after the national holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

Mr. Obama will take the oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States on the same Bible Abraham Lincoln used. For a few days, it will be difficult to resist the temptation to believe America has finally jettisoned the dead hand of prejudice that once held us back. If we can't sing "We have overcome" after an election like the one we just came through, then when can we sing it?

By electing Barack Obama, the voters have elevated a black family to the very center of the nation's civic and political life. Even those who reluctantly voted for Mr. Obama by rationalizing that he is "half white" will be forced to acknowledge the unprecedented shade of the rest of the First Family.

In defiance of precedent, the Obama family -- including the president's mother-in-law -- will not have to figure out the best shortcuts from the servants' quarters to the Oval Office. For the next four years at least, the White House will be at their disposal.

But before we dawdle too long in the swamp of self-congratulation, we would do well to remember that the fight for equality before the law is far from over in this country.

While it has been socially unacceptable to express overt prejudice against racial minorities for decades, sexual orientation remains a sanctioned bastion for the nation's displaced fear and loathing.

Even those who were once among the despised because of race or religion, are somehow able to scrounge up enough contempt for sexual minorities to put their pursuit for equality in jeopardy.

Closer to home, Allegheny County Council will soon vote on a non-discrimination ordinance that will make it illegal to fire someone for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Perhaps you're as naive as I was when I first heard about this. I assumed anti-discrimination laws covering GLBT people were already on the books in Allegheny County, if not statewide -- but that isn't the case.

Discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation remains a daily humiliation for too many of our fellow citizens. It isn't even a dirty little secret. It is sanctioned by local practice and years of prejudice.

Out of necessity, County Councilwoman Amanda Green introduced Ordinance 4201-08 last summer and has been fighting the good fight to ensure equality ever since. The ordinance has the eight co-sponsors it needs to pass, but it is far from guaranteed having lost sponsors recently.

"What is the opposition?" a local woman named Jamie Phillips wrote to me last week. "So many of our country's top businesses and companies are already enacting policies and providing benefits that protect all of their employees, including their GLBT employees.

"What kind of message would Allegheny County be sending to its citizens by opposing the ordinance? Clearly, that we discriminate ... that we failed to protect the needs of our residents.

"There are GLBT people everywhere. And some of their lives will be profoundly and negatively affected if this ordinance is not passed. This is the civil rights issue facing us today.

"If you, like me, find it to be a failure of our elected officials to see all people as created equal and deserving of civil rights, especially men and women who are working hard at their jobs just like those elected official ... if you find it to be hypocritical ... then please, like me, speak out."

County Council is inviting the public to weigh in on the merits of Ordinance 4201-08 at a hearing on Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Allegheny County Courthouse. It will be an opportunity for those itching to sing "We Shall Overcome" to do so when it really counts.

Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher is now in Israel "reporting" on the conflict in Gaza for PJTV.com, a conservative Web site. We're monitoring his most insightful sound bites so you don't have to:

"I don't think journalists should be allowed war [sic]" he said yesterday. "I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what's happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I think its asinine.

"You know, I liked back in [World War I and II] when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for them. Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to downer-and down soldiers."

If only I were making this up.