Last night, along with millions of others, I met Thomas Beatie.
The 34-year-old man is the father of a precious 4-month-old daughter. He and his wife, Nancy, 46, are overjoyed with their first child and ecstatic that they will give Baby Susan a big brother or sister in late spring.
Their journey to parenthood is non-traditional, to say the least. But as they told Barbara Walters during her exclusive interview - which aired Friday on ABC's 20/20 - it is one they wouldn't trade for the world.
I'd heard the story last spring when Beatie - who was born a female and later underwent a gender change operation after psychological testing confirmed he identified as a male - was pregnant with the couple's first child. A man was giving birth to a child.
I think my initial thoughts, like most, were shock, but it wasn't until I watched the news special that I began to understand the real story: The Beaties are a married couple in love who want to procreate as ... hmmm ... I think it's the Bible says?
Sure it brings up a barrage of questions, concerns and accusations. And this forum is not the place I want to discuss them. After watching the interview, what bothered me most was not what the Beaties are doing. It is the hatred people have for them and their choices.
Okay...you don't agree with something someone else does. You don't condone someone else's choices in life. You don't believe someone else's action is "God's will." Okay ... I get it.
The issue here is that it is someone else. Not you ... someone else. And isn't it "God's will" to not hate one another? I seem to remember something like that being said in Leviticus 19:17.
The Beaties have brought a beautiful baby into the world and no matter who her parents are or what choices they have made in life, she deserves unconditional love and acceptance. And honestly, so do they.
You may not agree, you may not condone, you may not believe ... just don't hate.
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