Sensible

Captain Ed has a good post up about Mary Cheney's decision to have a child.

Mary Cheney chose to conceive a child, and broke no laws in doing so. She's an adult and can support the child. The baby will have a supportive extended family, including the Vice President and Mrs. Cheney, who have five grandchildren already. It's really none of our business whether Mary Cheney wants to bear a child or not, as long as she's not killing the child.

Let's try to keep the hysteria down to a minimum. Calling a child unconscionable or fretting about its ability to bond with a parent outside of government recognition of a relationship is nothing more than cheap exploitation of a person merely for her publicity value. Both sides should be ashamed of themselves.

I had a good long post written, and then my computer ate it. So I'll give you the condensed version:

No one group has a claim on being "better" at raising a child. And I submit to you that Mary Cheney's child is a thousand times better off than the child of a heterosexual addict who keeps doing her drug of choice even while carrying the child. By turning this into a straight-vs-gay issue, people are losing sight of the real question, which is "What is best for the child?"

Face it, folks. You've all known someone who was heterosexual, and a terrible parent. Sexuality in my mind has very little to do with how well you can be a parent.

Some people may call me a hypocrite on this due to my opposition to gay marriage. So be it. But I would challenge those people to provide an example of how a gay parent is worse than a straight parent, given all other things being equal.

So, for the groups attacking Mary Cheney because she's a homosexual who's having a child:

Perhaps you can focus your attention on the high level of divorce in this country, which has a worse effect on the child than who mommy or daddy is sleeping with. Marriage is supposed to be a sacred vow, not just between two people, but between the couple and God as well, and the lack of attention to that detail may just be part of the reason why more people are unmarried than married in America. Let's turn marriage back into something special, rather than just a legally binding agreement, before we start decrying who's raising a child.

As as for the gay groups attacking Mary Cheney because of her father's views....

Grow the fuck up. I can't think of a better way to show that you're nothing more than partisan shitstains than beating up on Cheney's daughter because of Dick Cheney's own views.

And everybody, let's focus on the important matter: Is that child going to be raised in a stable, loving home, where they will get what they need to grow and succeed? Given that Cheney and her partner have been together for 15 years, that the Cheney's have an extended family that will support the child, I would hazard a guess of "Yes".