2 Dec 2011

Moving Gay Rights Speech

The following video is from February, but it's been making the rounds over the past day or so, and with good reason -- it's a moving speech by an incredibly well-spoken 19-year-old man who was raised by two women and who, earlier this year, was protesting an anti-civil unions resolution in his home state of Iowa.

Addressing the Iowa House of Representatives during a public forum on a resolution to constitutionally ban civil unions for same-sex couples, Zach Wahls says, "I'm really not that different from any of your children. My family really isn't so different from yours. After all, your family doesn't derive its sense of worth from being told by the state, 'You're married -- congratulations.' No, the sense of family comes from the commitment we make to each other to work through the hard times so we can enjoy the good ones. It comes from the love that binds us. That's what makes a family." Unfortunately, the resolution passed, but Wahls is now becoming something of a LGBTQ rights star for his speech. Watch the whole thing below.

AlterNet