Just in case you haven't had your daily dose of irony, here's a bit of news for the first day of National Adoption Month, "a month set aside to raise awareness about the adoption of children from foster care":

A Utah man, Gregg Valdez, who with his partner took in his niece's four children when she was unable to care for them, has chosen to give custody of the children to their grandmother, rather than fight a state law that forbids unmarried, cohabiting couples from becoming foster or adoptive parents. (The family is discussing, however, whether to grant the wish of the niece's 11-year-old son to stay with Valdez, although the boy's grandmother will have permanent legal custody.)

"We all came to the same conclusion—we didn't want to get involved in a big court battle, and we wanted to keep the kids together," Valdez told Gay.com. "I could have fought it, but I didn't think it would be in the best interest of the kids. It'll be hard at first, but I know they'll be taken care of."

This is a huge, unselfish act of the sort seen too rarely in custody situations. My heart goes out to all the family members, and I hope the arrangements do indeed work out for their children.

The case brings to mind one from July about another sacrifice by an LGBT parent in Utah. Lesbian mom Keri Jones announced she would not appeal a Utah Supreme Court ruling that said planning and raising a child with her (now ex) partner (and obtaining a court order designating both of them as co-guardians) was not enough to give her visitation rights. She said she feared a federal court would rule the same way, and "Having that kind of ruling on a national level would be horrific." Jones and Valdez are the sort of quiet heroes who deserve our recognition and respect.

Back to National Adoption Month, about which our president says:

A major new study on GLB adoption and fostering has found that an estimated two million GLB people are interested in adopting. More than half of gay men and 41 percent of lesbians want to have a child. The study, Adoption and Foster Care by Gay and Lesbian Parents in the United States, by the Williams Institute at UCLA, also concluded that: