Zach Wahls celebrates 4 years of the freedom to marry in Iowa, looks toward SCOTUS ruling

April 27 marks the four-year anniversary of the freedom to marry taking effect in Iowa, whose Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that same-sex couples should not be excluded from marriage. This week, marriage activist and LGBT ally Zach Wahls - the young man who moved so many with his passionate speech in the Iowa state legislature about why marriage matters for his two moms - published an editorial celebrating the anniversary and looking toward June, when the United States Supreme Court is expected to announce its ruling in two landmark cases about the freedom to marry.

In the moving editorial, Wahls looks forward to the day when same-sex couples nationwide have the freedom to marry and families like his receive all of the respect that other families receive. He writes: 

 I know when the justices consider these cases they will see the faces of so many American families just like mine. After all, nearly 20 years after the initial debates surrounding the federal Defense of Marriage Act, families like mine are no longer oddities universally regarded as social experiments--and for good reason. Like all other Iowa families, we had chores to do growing up, we had groceries to buy and smoke detector batteries to change. Like most people do, we went to church, we took vacations and every now and again, we fought about one thing or another and had to apologize for things we said.

Four years ago, the Iowa State Supreme Court did the right thing by recognizing the love and commitment of parents like mine and extending to them the freedom to marry. That decision has made Iowa proud, but its truth will ring hollow in a nation that fails to see what we see if the United States Supreme Court rules the wrong way in June.

But I don't think they will. I believe the justices will see the American heartland I grew up in. It's a place where families celebrate one another and pitch in when there's a crisis. It's a place where spirit, values and heart are what makes a family--not a rigid worldview.

It isn't easy, acknowledging when the world looks different from how you thought it would, or should. But changing opinions reflect a changing world, when we have the courage to see the world as it is and not just see it as we are. The world has changed a lot in four years, and I'm confident the Supreme Court will have the courage to change with it.

Read the full editorial HERE