When I signed onto Facebook yesterday, I was surprised at how many of my friends were posting the Zach Wahls video from February. If you didn’t see it then, the video shows Wahls, a 19-year-old college student, arguing eloquently before the Iowa legislature against a proposed constitutional amendment overturning marriage equality. Wahls, by the way, is the son of a lesbian couple. When I first saw Zach Wahls in my newsfeed, I thought there must be a new video or something. But no, it’s the same one I wrote about nine months ago. Thanks to a post on MoveOn.org, the video has gone viral yet again.
I’m going to share the video again for anybody who hasn’t seen it yet. Because everybody should see this video and hear Zach's message. But first, the obligatory word from our sponsor:
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Now, if you haven’t seen this yet, brace yourself. You’re about to see the logical product of The Homosexual Agenda, the horrifying result of same-sex parenting. Watch, if you dare:
…well, I guess he turned out okay, didn’t he?
Or, as Zach put it, “I was raised by gay parents, and I’m doing pretty well.”
Here are some of my favorite chunks from the amazing speech Wahls gave:
When I’m home, we go to church together, we eat dinner, we go on vacations. But, you know, we have our hard times, too. We get in fights…My mom Terri was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000. It is a devastating disease that put her in a wheelchair. So we’ve had our struggles. But, you know, we’re Iowans. We don’t expect anyone to solve our problems for us. We’ll fight our own battles. We just hope for equal and fair treatment from our government.
I scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT. I’m actually an Eagle Scout. I own and operate my own small business. And if I was your son, Mr. Chairman, I believe I’d make you very proud.
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. So what you’re voting here isn’t to change us. It’s not to change our families, it’s to change how the law views us, how the law treats us…So will this vote affect my family? Would it affect yours?
Aside from being an incredibly heartfelt and well-delivered speech, what Wahls had to say in front of the Iowa legislature is very important in the grand scheme of cultural evolution on homosexuality and gay equality. Currently, over ten of my friends on Facebook have either shared the MoveOn.org link or directly posted the video. Hardly anything gets that many shares on my Facebook newsfeed – and definitely not something this emotionally charged and important. I shared it myself (and I rarely post anything on Facebook). In the last 48 hours or so, lots and lots of people, whether they’ve liked it or not, have been exposed to the message that gay families are just like heterosexual families and that children of gay parents don’t turn out any worse than children of heterosexual parents. We can trivialize social networking if we want, but that’s a BFD.
As I said back in February, Zach gives me optimism for the future. Youth like Zach are walking around as living proof that same-sex marriage and parenting aren’t the threats the folks at NOM would have everybody believe. Marriage equality continues to suffer attacks from the anti-gay Right. But, as I put it in my diary nine months ago, no matter what happens, you can’t destroy love, and you can’t destroy real families like Zach’s. Thank God for that.
Do we need any more proof that we’re on the right side of history than Zach Wahls?
Now, On To The Top Comments!
A special thanks to this week's Top Comments contributors!
From belinda ridgewood:
In Laura Clawson's diary about Frank Luntz, annieli creates a new meme (or "crates" one).
From smileycreek:
In DowneastDem's diary Der Spiegel:"GOP Freakshow" Damaging America's Reputation, TheOrchid explains why there are no thinking Republicans left.
From Dragon5616:
In Tom P's post GOP Pollster Luntz Tells Rs To Tell People to Occupy Washington And Blame Obama, fladem has an excellent response.
punaise offered these alternative lyrics to an old favorite in Hunter's post Herman Cain: That woman was just a secret friend to whom I often gave money.
From JanF:
In bubbanomics has a great plan that we can all rally around for 2012. I personally don't see any flaws in it.
From bronte17:
bee tzu makes an astute observation on Democracy:
In Democracy it's important for people to have a certain degree of faith in each other. Relying on civilian informers is a great way to undermine that trust.
while Jim P asks if we have seen a rollback of the Bush era assaults on our rights in the post Holder Asks Us to Report Our Neighbors' IP Violations, But Not One Wall St Prosecution Since 2008 by The Troubadour.
Meanwhile, JekyllnHyde discusses some very interesting articles that take an in-depth look at OWS including a great video from The Charlie Rose show in the post Adam Carolla to OWS: "I'm just genetically better than you, so STFU!" by Mother Mags.
A more unconventional nomination from Mnemosyne:
I'm nominating an entire diary by Pluto because the text is laugh-out-loud funny, and the comments are Kossacks at their snarkiest. And because we alll need a good laugh these days.
And, last but not least, madhaus nominated this comment by Gamblndan in noise of rain's diary Nests of Snakes Revealed: A Story of Fear, Intimidation and Threat in Walker's Wisconsin. Here's madhaus's reason behind the nomination:
Why? Because the diary is about cyberbullying and cyberstalking and out and out ratfucking a woman because she helped out with a message board, a message board about recalling Scott Walker. So of course, the usual dirty tricksters and jackbooted thugs sweep in to make her sorry.
And this comment is a suggestion on a model response for dealing with this sort of thing. It is the cyber equivalent of nonviolent protest. It's absolutely beautiful.
Finally, Some Top Mojo!
(excluding tip jars)
Top Mojo is brought to you by mik's magic!
1) This "blogger" is a smokescreen. This is being by zenbassoon — 191
2) I disagree with this. by Great Lakes Liberal — 190
3) It's amazing how these stories are becoming by zenbassoon — 179
4) Panic in the ranks for the by TomP — 151
5) Or let one kid tweet about a Republican by MrJersey — 150
6) This one is really chilling to me. It goes beyond by noise of rain — 139
7) The naked terror and desperation by karmsy — 128
8) Excellent diary. by TomP — 127
9) What an ignorant strawman argument. by TomP — 125
10) The Right's Sturmabteilung. by stcroix cheesehead — 111
11) Corruption Trumps Ideology. by 3rdOption — 104
12) Look! Occupiers sleeping in their own feces! by blue aardvark — 97
13) hopefully charges will be forthcoming by wilderness voice — 90
14) You might direct her to something like this: by Herodotus Prime — 89
15) They're staying by Burned — 84
16) I Just Don't Buy This Line by webranding — 84
17) Holy carp, Sorey McLosersons! by lexalou — 81
18) The upside to graveyard shifts by Lightbulb — 80
19) I'm not a "purist". That's a BS label. by FishOutofWater — 80
20) Unpleasant incident happened to me, too by poison kitchen — 79
21) How about by smokem2271 — 78
22) Pragmatists sometimes fail to notice by 3goldens — 77
23) Alright so a few things for future use by Herodotus Prime — 75
24) With his kids in the car... by litho — 72
25) Also by Herodotus Prime — 72
26) One more thing by Herodotus Prime — 69
27) Along with the petition hacker dude... by lexalou — 69
28) jesus christ by rexymeteorite — 68
29) No, they weren't by david mizner — 65
30) Paging Anonymous by On Puget Sound — 65