Two lesbians raised a baby and this is what they got

By now you've probably already seen the video Two Lesbians Raise a Baby and This is What They Got, in which Zach Wahls addressed the Iowa House of Representatives, which was considering a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage.  (It is currently legal in Iowa.)  Actually, this is the second time the clip has gone viral.  I managed to miss its first go at Internet sensation at the time Zach made his speech back in February. 

I found Zach inspiring and as I watched him describe his family as not being different than any other families and talk about how being raised by two lesbian parents has had zero effect on his character, I wondered how anyone could look him in the eye and say his family should be second-class citizens in the eyes of the government.  (The amendment did pass the House, but wasn't taken up by the Senate.)

Sadly, last May the Minnesota House and Senate passed a bill proposing an amendment to our constitution that would prohibit same-sex marriage.  Minnesotans will vote on the amendment next November.  It makes me sad not only that we're even voting on whether to discriminate against a specific group of people, but also because of the divisiveness that putting such an issue on a ballot causes.  I remember how a vote in 1998 to repeal an anti-discrimination law in Maine divided my college's student body.  How you were planning to vote was a heated topic and lines were drawn among friends, roommates and classmates depending upon which side of the issue you supported.

My college years shaped how I feel today regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation. Shortly before that vote in my freshman year, a friend came out to me.  We had become friends when he moved into my dorm after not getting along with his roommates, who I later learned bullied him because they thought he was gay.  Although I would go on to befriend many other gays, and learn that some old friends were gay, but I'd just never known it, my friend and future roommate had the biggest influence on my beliefs.  I never questioned how I would vote, but suddenly the idea of discrimination went from abstract to personal when he came out. 

The vote we will have here in Minnesota is still personal, not just for the many gay couples I know, but for my kids whose sexual orientation is yet to be known.  It would make me very upset to watch my state pass a constitutional amendment that could possibly deny one of my kids a right their own parents had had.  As well-spoken and impassioned as Zach Wahls was, I hope that my kids will never feel compelled to have to make a similar speech.