Zach Wahls

Vocation

Family

American activist on behalf of LGBT equality. Wahls, the son of two lesbians, was conceived using artificial insemination to his biological mother Terry Wahls, an internal medicine physician. He has a younger sister who shares the same sperm donor and parents. Terry met Jackie Reger in 1995 and the two held a commitment ceremony in 1996. The family lived in Marshfield, Wisconsin, and moved when he was nine years old to Iowa City, Iowa. He was raised as a Unitarian Universalist and identifies himself as a member of that church. While still a high school senior, following the Iowa Supreme Court decision in Varnum v. Brien that invalidated the state's ban on same-sex marriage, he wrote an op-ed piece in the Des Moines Register in which he advocated a complete separation of marriage from civil unions. His mothers married in 2009 following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Iowa. In 2009, while a college freshman, Wahls started his own small business, Iowa City Learns, that offers tutoring services to junior and high school students. On 31 January 2011, Wahls addressed the Iowa House Judiciary Committee in a public hearing on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Iowa. A video of his testimony posted on YouTube went viral. It had more than 1.5 million views within two weeks. In the fall of 2011 Wahls withdrew from college to focus on activism, writing a book, and promotional activities. His book, My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family (written with Bruce Littlefield, published April 2012), describes the mundane impact of growing up in a household headed by two lesbians, like learning to tie a necktie from Playboy. He has served as co-chair for "The Outspoken Generation," the Family Equality Council's national youth advocacy initiative involving the young adult children of LGBT parents. The Unitarian Universalist Association of Iowa City gave him its Courage of Love Award in April 2012. Link to Wikipedia biography