Thankful for good public speakers

If you don't regularly follow the news in Iowa like I do, then maybe you missed the recent debate in the Iowa House regarding gay marriage. In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court wrote a magnificent ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the state. Now, the newly Republican-controlled Iowa House just voted to bring a bill forward that would amend the state constitution to make gay marriage/civil unions illegal. During the House hearings, Zach Wahls made a fabulous speech defending his mothers' right to marry. If you haven't seen it, google him. He's all over the internet. I just watched it again, along with his appearance on MSNBC with his family. He and his family are wonderful, and I'm thankful for people like him. People who step up and speak up on this issue. I'd be horrible at trying to speak publicly about it, because my tear ducts are so responsive and when I'm very emotionally passionate about a topic, I often cry when speaking about said topics.
Nevertheless, it made me think that maybe I should be more vocal. I vote, I sign HRC petitions, I email my senators and representatives, but maybe I should be doing more talking to people around me as well.

I don't often blog about very personal issues. Coming out, for example. I knew I was gay in college, but I'd felt different for a long time and didn't know why. I had crushes on boys but the idea of actually dating them, getting married and living with them was not appealing. It really hit me when I was asked out by a guy in my freshman general Chem class who sat next to me. I spent the remainder of the semester avoiding him like the plague, because I was so freaked out - in a very physical, make-my-skin-crawl- kind of way. He was a nice guy, and I feel bad about my reaction, but it made things more apparent to me. I didn't come out to some members of my family - my 2 oldest sisters and my parents - until much later, after I had met Katherine. I grew up in a conservative religious culture in which being gay is considered a sin and I knew it wouldn't go over well with my parents - I wrote them a letter describing how all of my life I had looked up to them and their relationship - one that I saw as being filled with love, mutual respect, devotion and commitment to each other - and how I had found this relationship with Katherine. My relationship with my family has subsequently been difficult. It's hard because the issue is so personal on both sides.

It's hard to be made out to be morally repugnant - that the love and relationship I have with my spouse is somehow vile to some people. It's hard to understand why other people feel like they need to regulate how I live my life with Katherine. How our love and our relationship and the family we create should be second-class.
But at the same time, despite everything, I know in my heart and soul that I am living the life I was meant to. I know it every day. I wish that things were different with my family, but I would and will not compromise my integrity and pretend to be someone else. Religious conservatives can try to legislate their intolerance as well. But, at the end of the day, I am proud to be me. And, I come home to the best spouse/significant other/partner/wife in the whole wide world.

It's just nice to hear validation sometimes. So thank you, Zach Wahls. I would be proud to have a son like you.