Once again, I am reminded of the progress made in this country, and how love is always a winner in the end. Bear with me if you've heard this before, but there are no issues closer to my heart than this:
My favorite quote comes at the end of his amazing three minutes: "Not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple."
That sentiment is quite true for me as well. Only recently I realized that, while GLBT folk eventually go through a coming out process, so do children of GLBT folk, as I did, though I didn't think of it as such at the time.
When I was growing up, I didn't think it strange that I was raised by a lesbian. By the time I was in high school, however, I had noticed that it was OK to invite some friends over to hang out, and others it was better to go to their house. But through it all, I never denied my family. When my bedroom was egged through my open window, or when people I thought might be my friends made fun of me, I never wished that my family was different, or more normal. I just wished we could move to a place where I didn't have to deal with it anymore.
From high school in California, I went to college in Nebraska, and I played the first few months as I had in high school: don't speak up about family until in the right company. That worked for a few months until Nebraska passed a law banning gay marriage (even though it was already against the law...), and I couldn't be silent anymore. The day after the election, I went into the office of the director of the leadership program and said I wanted to speak up. She helped me craft a letter to the editor for a school paper, and I was off and running.
From that moment, I chose to celebrate my family in public. If I lost friends, then I lost friends. If I lost out of job opportunities or scholarships, so be it. My logic went something like this: if someone disapproved of me because of my mother, then I probably didn't want to be associated with them anyway. And I'm appreciative of all the friends I have from college, ones that still make me smile on a daily basis.
I don't know Mr. Zach Wahls, but I sure can understand how he feels. I could talk on this for hours. Point me to a microphone, and I'll stand up, too. I'm proud of the job my mother did raising me. I graduated from high school in 2000, and from college in 2004 with BA and a double major in History and English. I worked for Walmart for 5 1/2 year with consistent promotions and raises. I am now starting my second semester of seminary after a very successful first semester. I have been married to a wonderful wife for almost three years now. Hopefully, we'll have kids someday, but that time hasn't come yet.
If I haven't been raised right by my mother, what the hell are we defining as "right"?
So I celebrate Zach and his courage. It is no easy thing to stand for what you think is right when so many around you see otherwise. I appreciate his words, and I agree with them. I can only hope his story, and mine, and countless others put a face on the families affected by gay marriage battles, and bring about an end to the pain we endured growing up by those that think less of us just because our parents fell in love.
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