Two lesbians raised a baby and this is what they got

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#Offbeat Families in the media#lesbian family#LGBTQ#videos
Zach and his moms. Photo used courtesy of the NOH8 Campaign.

Several of you have sent in this video of nineteen-year-old Zach Wahls, who was raised by two women alongside his biological sister (they share the same donor). Zach addressed the Iowa House of Representatives in February 2011. While we linked to the video in May 2011, it’s definitely worth a repeat mention:


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Comments on Two lesbians raised a baby and this is what they got

  2. It’s so rare for people to be able to memorize a speech like that (I am assuming he’s not also an actor?) so kudos not just on the content of the speech but on the amaaaazing public speaking skills! Hooray for rhetoric!

  4. I was somewhat confounded by this going viral a second time, since I remember watching it back when it was posted, and seeing him on Ellen and all. But like you said, worth a repeat!

  5. As the daughter of two moms for the overwhelming majority of my life, I love this guy. He says exactly everything I have thought about being raised by a gay couple. The way I turned out has nothing to do with my parents sexual orientation any more than it does for any other person on the street.

  9. I think this is a totally awesome video, inspiring in a ton of great ways.

    I also think, though, that it’s worth repeating something that a lesbian woman wrote on a facebook post of this video:

    “straight people don’t have to prove 1. that they’ll have kids, and 2. that their kids will be amazing geniuses in order to be granted rights. I’d like to reserve the right to raise a mediocre child (perhaps even a shitty kid), or no child at all, and still be granted status as a person of worth.”

    I think it’s great and important that this kid is speaking up and being so convincing. I don’t want to undermine that at all.

    But it’s important to remember that it should be perfectly valid for two moms to raise ANY kind of kid. And if somehow that kid, like plenty of kids raised by heterosexual parents, despite their best efforts turns out to be a hoodlum or a jerk, or even if he’s simply not as clear a display as this young man of conventional masculine success, we need to remember that that too has nothing to do with the parents’ sexual orientation.

    • I totally agree with you. I think that parents should be able to be parents, no matter what the gender of their coparent, or even if they don’t have one. But the point of this video is that certain people, people who make laws for the rest of us to follow, somehow think that by having parents of the same gender will automatically, inherently harm a child. That two mothers couldn’t possibly raise a son at all, let alone a son who is so accomplished as this young man. I agree with you whole-heartedly that if this kid had turned out a delinquent, the gender of his two parents wouldn’t have made a difference. But there are some who would have gone down that road. This video is addressing those people, who don’t believe that lesbians or gay men can raise children at all, and turning that thinking on it’s head. It needs to start somewhere before gay parents are accepted by the hard-core conservatives.

    • Also, as a queer future parent, I would like to say that while how my children turn out may have nothing to do with my sexual orientation or that of my partner, I sure hope how they turn out is influenced by our rocking queer politics and queer community. Sometimes the “the kids are alright” defensiveness really bugs me–not only do queer families not negatively influence kids but we often can offer them a lot of perspectives and experiences that other kids may not have (just as parents from other marginalized groups can offer their kids). Straight parents with good communities and good politics can also do this for their kids. But I definitely don’t want to be “normal” and I don’t want to have to prove that my kids will be “normal” either.

  11. Of course I’m crying! What a thoughtful young man. I don’t care if my daughter grows up to have such strong public speaking skills, or if she makes scores on the ACT that put her in the ninety-ninth percentile. What I hope is that she looks back on her life with her two moms and feels just as happy, loved, and supported as this young man clearly does. Isn’t that what we all want for our kids?

  12. I still don’t get it. I mean, the reason behind saying no to same-sex marriage is religion. Seperation of Church and State should therefore overwhelming say same-sex is legal. I’m so confused as to why it is so opposed. I mean, just because its legal doesn’t mean die-hard religious people will suddenly be ‘turned gay’.

    Aside from that point, I love this video and his points!

    • The problem is, a lot of the more vocal religious (the Church part of the Church and State) don’t WANT a separation of Church and State, which means they push very hard to oppose things like gay marriage which should, as you point out, be perfectly legal. And there are so darn many of them, and man do they make a noise. 🙁

      • And (I wanted to add), those same people against gay marriage are often a lot more similar to the “average Joe” who may not have originally had an opinion either way, that even those people tend to be swayed by the vocally religious. Ugh.

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