Octobers News Coverage: Zach Wahls

  Zach Wahls: My Two Moms

Zach Wahls was one of the many people to come to Frostburg State University this semester so far, and he was the best yet! On Monday, October 22^nd at 8pm Zach Wahls spoke to a room full of people about his story and same sex marriage. It was a very inspiring two hour event and knowledgeable.

Zach Wahls is a twenty-one year old author of a book called, “ My Two Moms” and is a LGBT Activist as well.  In the year 2011 Zach got a call from a lawyer asking him to come and testify at the Iowa courts.  Zach said, “When I got the call asking to come speak I said yes immediately. Then of course, like any other college student would do, I wrote my speech the night before.”  There was a little chuckle in the room, since we all know how that works. After Zach told us that he was asked to speak, he then showed us the three-minute video clip that had the most hits in all of the year 2011 on YouTube. 

In the three-minute video clip, Zach is standing before the Iowa courts trying to convince them that same sex marriage is nothing to be against, but something people should be for.  In the video Zach was only nineteen at the time, but was very well dressed and spoken.  He talked about how he was raised by two mothers and how it hasn’t had a negative impact on his life at all; and if anything having two mothers was better then having a “normal” family.  Once the video was done playing we all in the audience clapped and stood for him.  He then began to tell us more about the following days after that video was uploaded. “It was a snow day and so I woke up, checked to see if we had classes, then went back to sleep. When I woke up again I looked at my phone and noticed I had about a dozen missed calls.  I ignored it for the time being and began to make a cup of coffee. When I was done making my coffee I got onto Facebook and had about 400 notifications, and about double that in friend request. A moment after looking at this in amazement my phone ringed, and it was CNN wanting to do an interview.”  Zach then finished describing his hectic morning and hectic week to follow.  After everything that had happened a publicist, manager, and many more people approached him.  He ended up dropping out of college to become a political activist and author for the Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual Transgender (LGBT) community. 

 

After he explained the different shows that he has been on and the many people that he has met, he then sat there and told us all about the struggles he had growing up and trying to fit in.  Zach also told us some of the stupid questions that people ask him and how he handles them. “I get asked all the time, DUDEEE YOU HAVE TWO MOMS? And then they proceed to ask if they’re hot.” Zach said that it is always really uncomfortable. 

At the end of these amazing two hours, Zach held a Q&A session and allowed those of us who stayed to take pictures with him as well.  He is an amazing young man and what he is doing is an amazing thing!