This really irks me...

"Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea," Earll said. "Love can't replace a mother and a father."

- Carrie Gordon Earll, a policy analyst for the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family

My response to her opinion:

Why not???

Why isn't love and committment to raising a healthy, happy, confident child the most important thing? Why is it so important to make sure that a man AND a woman make up the traditional set of parents? Heck, whole societies have been based on children being raised by women, while the men's role is only to provide the means to do it. I applaud today's standards that have begun to break down this "mother is the best nurturer" stereotype, saying that it is okay to be a house-husband, while your wife goes out and makes the dough. But what makes a good parent? What is the foundation to basic parenting skills? The fact that you can provide for a child's emotional and physical needs? The fact that you are ready to be a parent and have have the desire to start a family? Or the fact that you are of the right gender?

I think Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign, got it right:

"Mary and Heather's decision to have a child is an example that families in America come in all different shapes and sizes," he said. "The bottom line is that a family is made up of love and commitment."

Take off the labels that society uses to define us and see all of us for what we are: PEOPLE. HUMAN BEINGS. We are all capable of incredible and amazing things, no matter who we love.