Zach Wahls

UPDATED POST:

Mr. Wahls (b. 1991) has achieved significant success since this original posting on 12/30/2011. 

A 2012 quote from Mr. Wahls: To be clear, I don't consider myself an ally. I might be a straight cisgender man, but in my mind, I am a member of the LGBT community. I know the last thing that anyone wants is to add another letter to the acronym, but we need to make sure as a movement we're making a place for what we call "queer-spawn" to function and to be part of the community. Because even though I'm not gay, I do know what it's like to be hated for who I am. And I do know what it's like to be in the closet, and like every other member of the LGBT community, I did not have a choice in this. I was born into this movement.

Mr. Wahls delivered a speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in which he thanked President Obama for "putting his political future on the line" in supporting same-sex marriage.

He received his master's degree in public affairs from Princeton University on June 5, 2018 – the same day he won the primary election for Iowa Senate district 37. He won the general election on November 6 and was sworn in on January 14, 2019; since 2023 he is the incumbent senator for district 43.

He and his wife Chloe (m. 2021) are expecting their first child this month.

ORIGINAL POST: This first appeared in 2011, the year I began this blog.

Zach Wahls (whose sexual orientation is unknown to me, so including him on this blog is a wild stretch) appeared in the most-watched political YouTube video of 2011 (18,000,000 views within a year). He spoke before the Iowa legislature, urging them to reject a constitutional amendment that would deny marriage equality to homosexuals, his lesbian mothers in particular. It is undeniable that he is a man of influence when it comes to gay people. His video documented one of the most inspiring, convincing and influential speeches I’ve heard; he is obviously passionate about his family, so it’s worth taking three minutes to watch it again. Zach was 19 years old at the time. The Economist magazine introduced his video speech with the words "This is what it's like to win an argument."