Zach Wahls stood up for marriage equality in Iowa

when he delivered a powerful speech

in front of the legislature.

>> For the next two hours

I'm sure we're going to hear

plenty of testimony about how damaging

having gay parents is on kids,

but in my nineteen years, not once

have I ever been confronted by an individual

who realized independently

that I was raised by a gay couple.

And do you know why?

Because the sexual orientation of my parents

has had zero effect

on the content of my character.

Thank you very much.

>> His testimony went viral

with millions of hits

and landed him in the media spotlight.

>> To find myself kind of

at the center of all this attention

was a very...

It was a little unnerving, um, at first,

but after I calmed down

I was immediately aware

of the power, really, of the story.

>> To further the impact of his story,

Zach is now releasing a book about

growing up with lesbian parents called

My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family

>> I write very intimately

about some of the struggles

that my family went through,

the challenges my moms faced,

and how we all grew from that.

My parents may have been gay,

but they weren't 'my gay moms'.

They were my moms.

My hope for the book above all else

is to really show people,

that this is just a portrait of another American family

that's just as valid as any other American family.

We eat dinner around a table.

We watch NFL games

and cheer for the Packers.

And so this, you know, notion

that there's something radical

or scary, or dangerous about gay people raising kids is...

You know it's really laughable

if you sit down and you think about it.

It turns out that the operative word in

'gay parents' is not 'gay' but 'parents'.

What's important when you're raising kids

is whether or not your parent or parents

are willing to put in the blood, sweat, toil and tears

or the time and the resources

and the effort that it takes

to shape these little hellions

into well-adjusted young adults.

My hope with the book is

to paint a portrait of a family

led by a gay couple

and to really try to examine what that looks like.

People who are, maybe,

on the other side might be surprised

by what they see.

Love makes a family.